CIHM 

ICMH 

Microfiche 

Collection  dtj                  | 

Series 

microfiches 

(Monographs) 

(monographles) 

Caradian  Imtitut*  for  Hinorical  MIcroraproductiont  /  Institut  Canadian  da  microraproductlona  hittoriquaa 


©1995 


Ttchnical  and  Bibliographtc  Notts  /  Nows  WehniqiMt  «t  btblmgraphiqim 


Tht  InitJtutt  has  anampttd  to  obttin  th«  Imt  orioirwl 
copy  availabit  for  filming.  FaatHrts  of  tliis  copy  which 
may  ba  bibliographwally  uniqua,  which  may  alttr  any 
of  ttM  imagM  in  tt«a  raproduction,  or  which  may 
liffnif icandy  changa  tha  usual  method  of  filming,  art 
chackad  balow. 


Colourad  covers/ 
Couvartura  da  coulaur 


0 

□  Co>tn  daiiM9«4/ 
< 


D 


J  Couvartura  andommagAa 

Covart  restored  and/or  laminatad/ 
Couvartura  rastaurte  et/ou  pellteulia 


□  Cover  tit(e  missing/ 
I 


I  La  titre  de  couverture  manque 


|~^  Coloured  maps/ 


Cartes  (>tographiques  en  couleur 


Q  Coloured 
Encreo. 

Q 
D 
D 


ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  blacli)/ 
Miuieur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 


D 


0 


Cokiurad  platH  and/or  illustrations/ 
Planchas  at/ou  illustrations  an  coulaur 

Bound  with  othar  mattrial/ 
Ralia  avac  d'autras  documants 

Tight  binding  may  causa  shadows  or  distortion 
along  intarior  margin/ 
La  raliura  sarria  paut  causar  Ja  I'ombra  ou  da  la 
distortion  la  long  da  la  marga  interlaura 

Blank  laavas  addad  during  rastoration  may  appaar 
within  tha  taxt.  Whanavar  patsiMa,  thasa  hava 
baan  omitted  from  filming/ 
11  sa  paut  qua  cartainas  pagas  blanchas  ajoutias 
lors  d'una  raslauration  apparaissant  dans  la  taxta, 
mais,  lorsqua  cala  atait  possJUa.  cas  pagas  n'ont 
pas  ata  f  ilmias. 


Additional  commanls;/  Pages  wholly  obscured 

Commantairas  lupplamantairas:  possible  Image. 


L'Institut  a  microfilmi  la  maillaur  axamplaira  qu'il 
lui  a  M  possible  de  se  procurer.  Let  details  de  cat 
examplaira  qui  sent  peut4tra  uniques  du  point  de  «ue 
bJMiographique,  qui  peu>ent  modifier  una  image 
reproduite.  ou  qui  peu«ent  exiger  une  modification 
dam  la  mMlode  normale  de  f  ilmage  sont  iiidiquts 
clHlessous. 

□  Coloured  pages/ 
Pages  de  couleur 

□  Paget  damaged/ 
Pages  endommigiai 

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0  Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 
Pagas  dacotorees.  tadieties  ou  piquaes 

□  Pages  detached/ 
Pages  ditaeh«es 

0»m>througta/ 
Transparence 

□  Quality  of  print  varies/ 
Quelite  in^gala  de  I'impression 

□  Continuous  pagination/ 
Pagination  continue 

QlndudH  indexiesi/ 
Comprend  un  (detl  index 

Title  on  header  taken  from:/ 
Le  titre  de  I'en-ttte  pmient: 

□  Title  page  of  issue/ 
Page  de  titre  de  la  livraison 


□  Caption  of 
Titre  de  dfe 


D 


issue/ 
de  dipart  de  la  liaraisen 


Masthead/ 

Ganerique  (piriodiques)  de  la  livraison 


by  tissues  have  been  ref limed  to  en;iure  the  best 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Cc  document  est  f  ilmi  au  uux  de  reduction  indiqui  ciHiessous. 

10X  14X  18X 


22X 


12X 


2ax 


2*x 


28X 


Ux 


Th*  copy  filmed  h«r«  hu  bMn  raproduead  thanks 
to  tha  ganarotliY  of: 

BibliotMqiM  «in«rili, 

Uni«mitt  Lnal, 

Qirfbw,  QuUmc, 

Tha  Imagat  appaaring  hara  ara  tha  baat  quality 
poaalbis  eonsidaring  tha  condition  and  lagibllity 
of  tha  original  copy  and  in  kaaping  with  tha 
filming  eontraot  apacHleatlona. 


Original  coplas  In  printad  papar  covars  ara  fllmad 
baglnning  with  tha  front  eovar  and  anding  on 
tha  last  paga  with  a  printad  or  lllustratad  impraa- 
slon,  or  tha  back  eovar  whan  appropriate.  All 
other  orlginei  copies  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  pege  with  e  printed  or  lllustreted  Impres- 
sion, and  anding  on  the  leat  paga  ««ith  a  printad 
or  Hluatratad  impreaalon. 


The  laat  recorded  freme  on  eech  microfiche 
shsil  contain  tha  symbol  -^  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUEO").  or  the  symbol  y  Imeening  "END"), 
whichever  eppllea. 

Mape,  plates,  charts,  etc.,  mey  be  filmed  et 
different  reduction  retios.  Those  too  lerge  to  be 
entirely  included  In  one  exposure  ere  filmed 
beginning  In  the  upper  left  hend  comer,  left  to 
right  end  top  to  bottom,  es  many  fremes  es 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


L'exempiaire  film*  fut  reprodult  grice  k  la 
gtniroslt*  do: 

BibliotM<;uf  (Intralt, 
UnlvinM  Lmal, 
Quibw,  Ouibw. 

Les  images  suhfsntas  ont  txt  raproduites  avec  la 
plus  grand  soin,  compta  tonu  da  la  condition  et 
de  la  nettet*  de  I'memplaira  film*,  at  *n 
eonformM  evec  lee  conditions  du  contrst  de 
filmage. 

Les  exemplalres  origlneux  dont  la  eouvarture  en 
pepier  est  Imprim4e  sont  f!im«s  en  commanf ent 
per  le  premier  piet  at  an  tarminent  soit  par  la 
damiire  pege  qui  comporta  una  ampralnte 
d'Impreaslon  ou  d'lilustretlan,  salt  per  le  second 
plat,  salon  le  ces.  Tous  las  autres  axem^lairas 
origlneux  sont  flimte  en  commen9ant  par  la 
premMre  pege  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'Impreaslon  ou  d'lilustrstion  et  en  termlnant  par 
la  derhMra  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 

Un  des  symboies  solvents  spparettra  sur  la 
dernMre  imege  de  cheque  microfiche,  salon  la 
cas:  la  symbols  —*'  signifia  "A  SUIVRE".  le 
symbols  ▼  signifle  "FIN". 

Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc..  pauvsnt  ttre 
fiimis  i  des  teux  de  rMuction  difftrsnts. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grsnd  pour  ttre 
reprodult  en  un  seul  ciich*.  11  est  film«  t  partir 
da  Tangle  supirieur  gaucha,  de  gauche  i  droits, 
et  de  haut  an  bas,  en  pranant  le  nombra 
d'lmagas  nteessaira.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
iilustrsnt  la  mithode. 


1  2  3 


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2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

Mictocorr  >i$oiutkin  tbi  chart 

(ANSI  and  ISO  TEST  CHART  No.  2) 


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THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 


J 


BXTBA-ILLnSTEATED  EDITION 


VOLUME  36 

THE  CHRONICLES 

OP  AMERICA  SERIES 

ALLEN  JOHNSON 

EDITOR 

GERHAHO  K.  LOMEK 

CHARLES  W.  JEFFERYS 

ASSISTANT  EDITORS 


1 


MAHINE 


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■■■)i    UXIV£>;;:;l-i    i'UKsS 


THE  CAUFpBfltJt  CLIPPER  SBlP/'firtNl 


Vtbotnpb,  U^    JB  tlM  ooUtetioo  of  tke  Bortoniui  Sa«ie&.  OW 
StatcBoiucBcMtoa 


THE  OLD 
MERCHANT   MARINE 


A  CHRONICLE  OF 

AMERICAN  SHIPS  AND  SAILORS 

BY  RALPH  D.   PAINE 


NEW  HAVEN:  YALE   UNIVERSITY   PRESS 

TORONTO:   GLASGOW,    BROOK    &   CO. 

LONDON:    HUMPHREY    MILFORD 

OXFORD    UNIVERSITY    PRESS 

1920 


Copyright,  1919.  hy  Yale  Univeririty  Preat 


CONTENTS 

'•    ^i?^'*^   ADVENTUHEBS   IN   LITTLE 
SHIPS 

n.    THE  PBIVATEEBS  OP  '76 

m.    OUT  CUTLASES  AND  BOARDI 

IV.    THE  FAMOUS  DAYS  OP  SALEM  PORT 

VI.    "FREE  THADE  AND  SAILORS'  RIGHIS!" 
VII.    THE  BRILLUNT  ERA  OF  18W 
""■    ""K^""  '"'^  °^  ™^  "BOABING 

IX.    THE  STATELY  CUPPER  AND  HEB  GLORY 
X.    BOUND  COASTWISE 

BIBLIOGBAPHICAL  NOTE 
INDEX 


FkK  1 
"  M 
"  81 
'■       51 

«       jg 

•  M 

•  U7 

134 
IM 
18« 
iOl 
MS 


«B 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Tm^CAUPORNU  CUPPER  SHIP.  FLYINO 

t<.«UnSoc...y.OMSut.Hou...Bo.U.„.  ;-™,^^ 

*!^^i!?^™''°*''™E  NORTHWEST  COAST 
"CUTTING  IN"  HER  LAST  RIGHT  WHfLE 
I..thogr.ph.    I„  He  „|,„,i„„  „,  ^^  Bo>lom.n 


Society,  ( 11,1  Sute  Hou«.  Bcton. 

^h™  nPB  nl"."^-  ^'^""lANT  AND 
SHirflUILDEH,  OF  SALEM 

l^inling  by  Jame.  Frolhinghan,.   ,In  the  Pei^ 
bodyMiueum,  Salem,  MamachuMttji. 

THE  SHIP  oa^ATBrU/iiC 

^tr?ll''f  '  ^""^  ""^  "'  Canton,  on  . 

Salem,  Ma«aehu«,tt,.    The  Or^rfruri  opened 
heAmencan  trade  with  China  .t  Cant^in 

■n  1787.    She  wa>  buUt  for  E.  H.  Derby  in  1781. 

''t^e^Ch'f'lJ'f.'''^-     ''«-«n^''yA..,..twen. 
ix 


Faani  page  IB 


ia 


Be 


6i 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


THE    SHIP  MOONT   VEllNOS'.  ESCAPINO 
FROM  THE  FRENCH  FLEET,  ITM 
P>iaUii(  by  M.  Com*,  ITM.    In  Um  Pwlmlir 
MuMum.  Sftlen,  MaiMcbuMtU- 

errEPHEN  girard 

EnfnTiiif  by  1.  Cheney. 

THE  SHIP  AMERICA.  The  fourth  of  htr  nune. 
Priv*teer  in  the  War  of  I8U.  Water-color  dmw> 
ing  l>y  Antoine  Roux,  Marieillei,  IHOII.  In  th« 
Penbody  Mtueum,  Salem,  Majwarhuietti. 

CAPTAIN  JAMES  CHBVER,  OF  THE  PRIVA- 
TEER AUERWA.  Photograph  from  a  cray- 
on dmwinc,  given  by  Charlei  G.  Cheever,  An- 
(lover,  Masiachuietts.  to  the  Peabody  Muieum. 
Salem.  Maaaachuietta. 

SOUTH  STREET.  FROM  MAIDEN  LANE,  NEW 
YORK.  1834 
Engntving  by  W.  I.  Bennett,  (rom  a  drawing  by 
hinueU.    In  the  Print  Department  of  the  Vew 
York  Public  Library. 

THE  SHIP  OEOBOE,  OF  SALEM 

Water-color  painting,  1 810,  omied  by  Georg* 
U.  Allen,  Manchester-by-the-Sea.  The  Owrgt, 
818  torn,  waa  built  in  1814.  and  made  twenty- 
one  voyagea  between  Salem  and  Calcutta. 


•   tu 


IM 


m 


THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 


CHAPTER  I 

COLONIAL  ADVENTUBMB  IN  UTTL.  SHIPS 

The  .too.  of  American  ship,  and  «ilor.  i.  an  epic 
of  b  ue  .,t  wb  .i.  .ee..  singularly  ,en.ote  .! 
most  „„«a,.  to  the  later  generations.    A  pe;ple 

a  bn  hant  supremacy  through  two  centuries  and 
^en  forsook  this  heritage  of  theirs,  lie  period  of 
achievement  was  no  more  extraordinary  Tan  w« 

Lrflltf*'"""''-  ^-•^"--'"^whos::; 

Z  fl«ked  eveiy  ocean,  whose  captains  coura- 
^ous  from  father  to  son  had  fought  with  pTe 

^rned  mland  to  seek  a  different  destiny  and 
took  no  more  thought  for  the  taU  ships  and  rth 
-J-  whid.  had  earned  so  much  Lown  t 

I 


«  THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 

Vanished  fleets  and  brave  memories  —  a  chron- 
icle of  America  which  had  written  its  closing  chap- 
ters before  the  Civil  War!  There  will  be  other 
Yankee  merchantmen  in  times  to  come,  but  never 
days  like  those  when  skippers  sailed  on  seas  un- 
charted in  quest  of  ports  mysterious  and  unknown. 
The  Pilgrim  Fathers  driven  to  the  northward 
of  their  intended  destination  in  Virginia,  landed 
on  the  shore  of  Cape  Cod  not  so  much  to  clear  the 
forest  and  till  the  soil  as  to  establish  a  fishing 
settlement.  Like  the  other  Englishmen  who  long 
before  1620  had  steered  across  to  harvest  the  cod 
on  the  Grand,  Bank,  they  expected  to  wrest  a 
livelihood  mostly  from  salt  water.  The  convin- 
cing argument  in  favor  of  Plymouth  was  that  it 
offered  a  good  harbor  for  boats  and  was  "a  place 
of  profitable  fishing."  Both  pious  and  amphibious 
were  thes.  pioneers  whom  the  wilderness  and  the 
red  Indian  confined  to  the  water's  edge,  where 
they  were  soon  building  ships  to  trade  com  for 
beaver  skins  with  the  Kennebec  colony. 

Even  more  energetic  in  taking  profit  from  the 
sea  were  the  Puritans  who  came  to  Massachusetts 
Bay  in  1629,  bringing  carpenters  and  shipbuilders 
with  them  to  hew  the  pine  and  oak  so  close  at  hand 
into  keelsons,  frames,  and  planking.    Two  years 


i 

i 


COLONIAL  ADVENTDRERS  3 

later,  Governor  John  Winthiop  launched  his  thirty, 
ton  sloop  Blessing  of  the  Bay,  and  sent  her  to  open 
"fnendly  commercial  relations"  with  the  Dutch 
of  Manhattan.    Brisk  though  the  traffic  was  in 
fu«  and  wampum,  these  mariners  of  Boston  and 
Salem  were  not  content  to  voyage  coastwise.    Off- 
shore fishing  made  skilled,  adventurous  seamen  of 
them,  and  what  they  caught  with  hook  and  line 
when  dried  and  salted,  was  readily  exchanged  for 
other  merchandise  in  Bermuda,  Barbados,  and 
Europe. 

A  vessel  was  a  community  venture,  and  the 
custom  still  survives  in  the  ancient  ports  of  the 
Maine  coast  where  the  shapely  wooden  schooners 
are  fashioned.     The  blacksmith,  the  rigger,  the 
calker,  took  their  pay  in  shares.     They  became 
part  owners,  as  did  likewise  the  merchant  who 
supplied  stores  and  material;  and  when  the  ship 
was  afloat,  the  master,  tiie  mates,  and  even  the 
seamen,  were  allowed  cargo  space  for  commodities 
which  they  might  buy  and  sell  to  their  own  ad- 
vantage.    Thus  early  they  learned  to  trade  as 
shrewdly  as  they  navigated,  and  every  voyage 
directly  concerned  a  whole  neighborhood. 

This  kind  of  enterprise  was  peculiar  to  New  Eng- 
land because  other  resources  were  lacking.    To  the 


4  THE  OLD  MERCBANT  MARINE 

westward  the  French  were  more  interested  in  ex- 
ploring the  rivers  leading  to  the  region  of  the  Great 
Lakes  and  in  finding  fabulous  rewards  in  furs.  The 
Dutch  on  the  Hudson  were  similarly  engaged  by- 
means  of  the  western  trails  to  the  country  of  the 
Iroquois,  while  the  planters  of  Virginia  had  dis- 
covered an  easy  opulence  in  the  tobacco  crop,  with 
slave  labor  to  toil  for  them,  and  they  were  not  com- 
pelled to  turn  to  the  hardships  and  the  hazards  of 
the  sea.  The  New  Englander,  hampered  by  an 
unfriendly  climate,  hard  put  to  it  to  grow  sufficient 
food,  with  land  immensely  difficult  to  clear,  was 
between  the  devil  and  the  deep  sea,  and  he  saga- 
ciously chose  the  latter.  Elsewhere  in  the  colonies 
the  forest  was  an  enemy  to  be  destroyed  with  in- 
finite pains.  The  New  England  pioneer  regarded 
it  with  favor  as  the  stuff  with  which  to  make  stout 
ships  and  step  the  straight  masts  in  them. 

And  so  it  befell  that  the  seventeenth  century 
had  not  »un  its  course  before  New  England  was 
hardily  aflcat  on  every  Atlantic  trade  route,  caus- 
ing Sir  Josiah  Child,  British  merchant  and  econo- 
mist, to  lament  in  1668  that  in  his  opinion  nothing 
was  "more  prejudicial  and  in  prospect  more  dan- 
gerous to  any  mother  kingdom  than  the  increase  of 
shipping  in  her  o  >lonies,  plantations,  or  provinces." 


COLONIAL  ADVENTURERS  5 

This  absorbing  business  of  building  wooden  ves- 
sels  was  scattered  in  almost  eve^  bay  and  river 
of  the  indented  coast  from  Nova  Scotia  to  Buz- 
zard s  Bay  and  the  sheltered  waters  of  Long  Is- 
land  Sound.    It  was  not  restricted,  as  now.  to 
well-equ.pped  yards  with  crews  of  trained  artisaiis. 
Hard  by  tlae  huddled  hamlet  of  log  houses  was  the 
«>w  of  keel-blocks  sloping  to  the  tide.    I„  winter 
weather  too  rough  for  fishing,   ,hen  the  little  f anas 
lay  .die,  th.s  Yankee  Jack-of-all-trades  plied  his 
axe  and  adze  to  shape  the  timbers,  and  it  was  a 
routine  task  to  peg  together  a  sloop,  a  ketch,  or 
a  bng,  u,ere  cockle-shells,  in  which  to  fare  forth 
to  London  or  Cadiz,  or  the  Windward  Islands  - 
some  of  them  not  much  larger  and  far  less  sea. 
worthy  than  the  lifeboat  which  hangs  at  a  liner's 

tZl  '^""='""«''°-'*y^°-«l  him  to  dispense 
w.^  the  ornate,  top-heavy  cabins  and  forecastles 
of  the  foreign  merchantmen,  while  invention,  bred 
of  necessity,  molded  finer  lines  and  less  clumsy 
models  to  weather  the  risks  of  a  stormy  coast  and 

channels  beset  with  shoals  and  ledges.  Thesquare- 
ng  did  well  enough  for  deep-water  voyages,  but 
t  was  an  awkward,  lubberly  contrivance  for  work- 

evolved  the  schooner  with  her  flat  fore-and-aft 


6  THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 

sails  which  enabled  her  to  beat  to  windward  and 

which  required  fewer  men  in  the  handling. 

Dimly  but  unmistakably  these  canny  seafarers 
in  their  rude  beginnings  foreshadowed  the  creation 
of  a  merchant  marine  which  should  one  day  com- 
prise the  noblest,  swiftest  ships  driven  by  the  wind 
and  the  finest  sailors  that  ever  trod  a  deck.  Even 
then  these  early  vessels  were  conspicuously  effi- 
cient, carrying  smaller  crews  than  the  Dutch  or 
English,  paring  expense.'  to  a  closer  margin,  daring 
to  go  wherever  commerce  beckoned  in  order  to 
gain  a  dollar  at  peril  of  their  skins. 

By  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century  more  than 
a  thousand  vessels  were  registered  as  built  in  the 
New  England  colonies,  and  Salem  already  dis- 
played the  peculiar  talent  for  maritime  adventure 
which  was  to  make  her  the  most  illustrious  port  of 
the  New  World.  The  first  of  her  line  of  shipping 
merchants  was  Philip  English,  who  was  sailing  his 
own  ketch  Speedwell  in  1676  and  so  rapidly  ad- 
vanced his  fortunes  that  in  a  few  years  he  was  the 
richest  man  on  the  coast,  with  twenty-one  vessels 
which  traded  coastwise  with  Virginia  and  offshore 
with  Bilbao,  Barbados,  St.  Christopher's,  and 
France.  Very  devout  were  his  bills  of  lading, 
flavored  in  this  manner:  "Twenty  hogsheads  of 


COU)NIAL  ADVENTUKERS  7 

salt,  shipped  by  the  Grace  of  God  in  the  good  sloop 
caUed  the  Mayflcwer.  ...  a,  1  by  God's  Grace 
bound  to  Virginia  or  Merriland." 

No  less  devout  were  the  merchants  who  onlered 
^e.r  skipper,  to  cross  to  the  coa.t  of  Guinea  and 
fill  the  hold  with  negroes  to  be  sold  in  the  West 
Ind.es  before  returning  with  sugar  and  molasses 
to  Boston  or  Rhode  Island.     The  slave-trade 
flourished  from  the  very  birth  of  commerce  in 
Puritan  New  England  and  its  golden  gains  and 
exotic  voyages    Jlured   high-hearted   lads   from 
farm  and  counter.   In  1640  the  ship  Desire,  built  at 
Marblehead,  returned  from  the  West  Indies  and 
brought  some  cotton  and  tobacco  and  negroes 
etc.  from  thence."    Earlier  than  this  the  Dutch  of 
Manhattan  had  employed  black  labor,  and  it  was 
provided  that  the  Incorporated  West  India  Com- 
pany should  "allot  to  each  Patroon  twelve  black 
men  and  women  out  of  the  Prizes  in  which  Negroes 
should  be  found." 

It  was  in  the  South,  however,  that  this  kind  of 
labor  was  most  needed  and,  as  the  trade  increased 
Virginia  and  the  Carolinas  became  the  most  lucra- 
tive markets.  Newport  and  Bristol  drove  a  roaring 
traffic  ,n  "rum  and  niggers,"  with  a  hundred  sail 
to  be  found  in  the  infamous  Middle  Passage     The 


,T 


i) 


i^ 


8  THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 

martero!  one  of  these  Rhode  Island  slavers,  writing 
home  from  Guinea  in  1736.  portrayed  the  conges- 
tion of  the  trade  in  this  wise:    "For  never  was 
ther«  so  much  Hum  on  the  Coast  at  one  time 
before.   Not  ye  like  of  ye  French  ships  was  never 
seen  before,  for  ye  whole  co«  st  is  full  of  them.   For 
my  part  I  can  give  no  guess  when  I  shall  get  away 
for  I  purchast  but  27  slaves  since  I  have  been  here 
for  slaves  is  very  scarce.    We  have  had  nineteen 
Sail  of  us  at  one  time  in  ye  Road,  so  that  ships  that 
used  to  carry  pryme  slaves  off  is  now  forced  to  take 
any  that  comes.   Here  is  seven  sail  of  us  Rum  men 
that  are  ready  to  devour  one  another,  for  our  case 
is  desprit." 

Two  hundred  years  of  wickedness  unspeakable 
and  human  torture  beyond  all  computation,  justi- 
fied  by  Christian  men  and  sanctioned  by  govern- 
ments, at  length  rending  the  nation  asunder  in  civil 
war  and  bequeathing  a  problem  still  unsolved  — 
all  this  followed  in  the  wake  of  those  first  voyages 
in  search  of  labor  which  could  be  bought  and  sold 
as  merchandise.  It  belonged  to  the  dark  ages  with 
piracy  and  witchcraft,  better  forgotten  than  re- 
called, save  for  its  potent  influence  in  schooling 
brave  seamen  and  building  faster  ships  for  peace 
and  war. 


Hi 


COLONIAL  ADVENTtTRERS  9 

Tlese  colonial  seamen,  in  truth,  fought  for  sur- 
vival an„d  dangers  so  manifold  as  to  make  their 

of^mtr^  "?"'?•   ''  """  "°*  »««'y  »  ""tter 
o     mall  vessels  w.th  a  few  men  and  boys  daring 

distant  voyages  and  the  mischances  of  founder 

«g  or  stranding,  but  of  facing  an  incessant  plague 

of  pnvateers,  French  and  Spanish.  Dutch  and  Eng- 

i^.  or  a  swarm  of  freebooters  under  no  flag  at 

al .     Coasts  were  unlighted,  charts  few  and  un- 

rel-ble.  and  the  instruments  of  navigation  aWt 

«  crude  as  m  the  days  of  Columbus.    Even  the 

w^t  afloat  to  wreak  mischief,  and  the  records 

or^eF.«t  Church  of  Salem  contain  this  Z 
entry  under  date  of  July  25.  1677:  "The  Lord 
havmg  given  a  Commission  to  the  Indians  to 

Salem  and  Captivate  the  men  .  .  .  it  struck  a 
great  constemat.on  into  all  the  people  here.    The 

pltr'Tf  "  *''  ""'"'^  ^"^^  '"•''  *•-«  -hole 
people  read.ly  consented,  to  keep  the  Lecture  Day 

foUowmg  a.  a  Fast  Day.  which  was  accordingly 

of  the  Ketches  on  the  Fast  Day  which  was  looked 
on  as  a  gracious  smile  of  Providence.  Also  there 
had  been  19  wounded  men  sent  into  Salem  a  ht^ 


r 


10         THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 
while  before;  also  a  Ketch  sent  out  from  Salem 
as  a  man-of-war  to  recover  the  rest  of  the  Ketches. 
The  Lord  give  them  Good  Success." 

To  encounter  a  pirate  craft  was  an  episode  al- 
most commonplace  and  often  more  sordid  than 
picturesque.  Many  of  these  sea  rogues  were  thieves 
with  small  stomach  for  cutlasses  and  slaughter. 
They  were  of  the  sort  that  overtook  Captain  John 
Shattuck  sailing  home  from  Jamaica  in  1718  when 
he  reported  his  capture  by  one  Captain  Charles 
Vain,  "a  Pyrat"  of  12  guns  and  120  men  who  took 
him  to  Crooked  Island,  plundered  him  of  various 
articles,  stripped  the  brig,  abused  the  crew,  and  fi- 
nally let  him  go.  In  the  same  year  the  seamen  of 
the  Hopewell  related  that  near  Hispaniok  they 
met  with  pirates  who  robbed  and  ill-treated  them 
and  carried  off  their  mate  because  they  had  no 
navigator. 

Ned  Low,  a  gentleman  rover  of  considerable 
notoriety,  stooped  to  filch  the  stores  and  gear  from 
a  fleet  of  fourteen  poor  fishermen  off  Cape  Sable. 
He  had  a  sense  of  dramatic  values,  however,  and 
frequently  brandished  his  pistols  on  deck,  besides 
which,  as  set  down  by  one  of  his  prisoners,  "he  had 
a  young  child  in  Boston  for  whom  he  entertained 
such  tenderness  that  on  every  lucid  interval  from 


COLONUL  ADVENTURERS  ij 

drinking  and  revelling,  I  have  seen  him  .it  down 
and  weep  plentifully." 
A  more  satisfying  figure  was  Thomas  Pounds. 

from  Boston  m  1689.    He  was  discovered  in  Vine- 
yard Sound,  and  the  two  vessels  fought  a  gallant 

to  stnke.  CapUin  Samuel  Pease  of  the  Ma^ 
was  mortally  wounded,  while  Pounds,  this  pi«Z 
er  p.rate,  strode  his  quarterdeck  and  wavc^  1^ 
naked  sword,  crymg,  "Come  on  board,  ye  dogs 
and  I  w,ll  stnke  ,au  presently."  This  invitaZ 
wa.  promptly  accepted  by  the  stout  seamentm 
Boston,  who  thereupon  swarmed  over  the  bulwark 

;:^  ^77"  ^-d^'>elow.  preserving  l^oTai 
Pounds  to  be  hanged  in  public 

In  1703  John  Q.,elch.  a  man  of  resource,  hoisted 
what  he  called  "Old  Hoger"  over  the  Ck:ZTt 
bngantme  wh.ch  had  been  equipped  as  a  private,^ 
tocn.,seagamst  the  French  of  Acadia.    Thisc^^ 
ous  flag  of  his  was  described  as  displaying  a  kX" 
ton  w,th  an  hour-glass  in  one  hand  and   'a Tart 
■n  ti.e  heart  with  three  drops  of  blooo  procTd 
"g  from  ni„  the  other."    Quelch  led  a  mS 
ossed  the  skipper  overboard,  and  sailed  for  Br3' 
captunng  several  merchantmen  on  the  way  Id 


r 


I 


1«  THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 
looting  them  of  rum,  «lk».  sugar,  gold  durt,  and 
munitions.  Rashly  he  came  sailing  back  to  Mar- 
blehead,  primed  with  a  plausible  yam,  but  his  men 
Ulked  too  much  when  drunk  and  all  hands  were 
.  Med.  Upon  the  gallows  Quelch  behaved  ex- 
ceedingly well,  "pulling  off  his  hat  and  bowing  to 
the  spectators,"  while  the  somber  Puritan  mer- 
chants in  the  crowd  were,  many  of  them,  quietly 
dealing  in  the  merchandise  fetched  home  by  pirates 
who  were  lucky  enough  to  steer  clear  of  the  law. 

This  was  a  shady  industry  in  which  New  York 
took  the  more  active  part,  sending  out  supplies 
to  the  horde  of  pirates  who  ravaged  the  waters  of 
the  Far  East  and  made  their  haven  at  Madagas- 
car, and  disposing'  of  the  booty  received  in  ex- 
change. Governor  Fletcher  had  dirtied  his  hands 
by  protecting  this  commerce  and,  as  a  result,  Lord 
Bellomont  was  named  to  succeed  him.  Said 
William  III,  "I  send  you,  my  Lord,  to  New  York, 
because  an  honest  and  intrepid  man  is  wanted  to 
put  these  abuses  down,  and  because  I  believe  you 
to  be  such  a  man." 

Such  were  the  circumstances  in  which  Captain 
William  Kidd,  respectable  master  mariner  in  the 
merchant  ser\  ice,  was  employed  by  Lord  Bellomont, 
royal  Governor  of  New  York,  New  Hampshire,  and 


COLONIAL  ADVENTIHEBS  13 

M««chu.etU.  to  con.„«nd  an  anned  .hip  and 
harry  the  pirate,  of  the  West  Indie,  and  Mada- 
«Mcar.  Strange.t  of  all  the  .ea  tale,  of  colonial 
h«tory  ..that  of  Captain  Kidd  and  hi,  cr«i«, 
in  the  Aivmlure-OaUey.  Hi,  name  i.  reddened 
with  crime,  never  committed,  hi.  gri,ly  phan- 
torn  ha,  .talked  through  the  legend,  a-d  litera- 
ture of  pwacy,  and  the  Kidd  tradiUon  .till  haa 
mag,c  to  ,et   trea,ure-.eeker.  exploring  almost 

tTT  ^,'-^'"''  """^  '"*'*'''"''  ^"»°  Halifax  to 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Yet  if  truth  were  told,  he 
never  cut  a  throat  or  made  a  victim  walk  the  plank 
He  wa.  tried  and  hanged  for  the  trivial  offense  of 
brcakmg  the  head  of  a  mutinous  gunner  of  hi.  own 
crew  with  a  wooden  bucket.  It  was  even  a  matter 
of  grave  legal  doubt  whether  he  had  committed 
■^e  smgle  piratical  act.    His  trial  in  London  wa. 

"n     .':u      ."•"  "^  °^  '^'  '="P*"'«1  "tips  he 
alleged  that  they  were  sailing  under  French  passes 

and  he  protested  that  his  privateering  commission 
justified  hmi.  and  this  contention  was  not  di^ 
proven.  The  suspicion  is  not  wanting  that  he  was 
condemned  as  a  scapegoat  because  certain  noble- 
men of  England  had  subscribed  the  capitaJ  to  out- 
fit his  cruise,  expecting  to  win  rich  dividends  in 
gold  captured  from  the  pirates  he  was  sent  to 


14  THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 
•ttack.  Against  these  men  a  political  outcry  was 
raised,  and  as  a  result  Captain  Kidd  was  sacrificed. 
He  was  a  seaman  who  had  earned  honorable  dis- 
tinction in  earlier  years,  and  fate  has  played  his 
memory  a  shabby  trick. 

It  was  otherwise  with  Blackbeard.  most  flam- 
boyant of  all  colonial  pirates  who  filled  the  stage 
with  swaggering  success,  chewing  wine-glasses  in 
his  cabin,  burning  sulphur  to  make  his  ship  seem 
more  like  hell,  and  industriously  scourging  the 
whole  Atlantic  coast.  Charleston  lived  in  terror 
of  him  until  Lieutenant  Maynard,  in  a  small  sloop, 
laid  him  alongside  in  a  hammer-and-tongs  engage- 
ment and  cut  off  the  head  of  Blackbeard  to  dangle 
from  the  bowsprit  as  a  trophy. 

Of  this  rudely  adventurous  era,  it  would  be  hard 
to  find  a  seaman  more  typical  than  the  redoubta- 
ble Sir  William  Phips  who  became  the  first  roy- 
al Governor  of  the  Massachusetts  Colony  in  1698. 
Bom  on  a  frontier  farm  of  the  Maine  coast  while 
many  of  the  Pilgrim  fathers  were  living,  "his  faith- 
ful mother,"  wrote  Cotton  Mather,  "had  no  less 
than  twenty-six  children,  whereof  twenty-one  were 
sons;  but  equivalent  to  them  all  was  William,  one 
of  the  youngest,  whom,  his  father  dying,  was  left 
young  with  his  mother,  and  with  her  he  lived. 


OOIONUL  ADVENTURERS  ,, 

keeping  yc  .heep  in  ye  Wilderne«  „„«!  he  .« 

eighteen  years  old  "    Th-n  \ .  " 

tn  .  „  •  uu    .  ^"'"'"■PPwnticed  himself 

to  a  neighbonng  shipwright  who  wom  h.„U^ 

waterside  and  there  picked  ud  JZ 
of  the  si,.er-,aden  J.  J:nt  JspTn' X h'^ 
Jh.vered  their  timbers  on  the  reefsVthl  Bahal^ 
P-age  or  gone  down  in  the  hurricanes  that  b^ 

weThhTw ;''  T-  ''^'"'"'"•=  '^  '^  --  ". 

tZ  r  '''^'"'  ""'P'^'-^y  ^"«bled  him  to  go 
t«!asure-hunti„g  on  the  Spa.n.ch  main  vZ  ^ 
fi«t  voyage  thither  in  a  small  vrsd  he  ^J^ 

cost  of  the  expedition 

fo^  rt,J;7^^^^ 

enh-st  the  X  oi  It  """  '°  ^"^'"""^  *« 

"jc  H  a  oi  the  Government.    With  bulM™, 

Pe-.  ence  he  besieged  the  court  of  J^Xt 

hi/pu,,^:.  h'  f :"  rr "  "^'"  ^"^^^  ^- 

lailed  to  fish  up  more  silver  from 


II 


16         THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 
the  sands  but,  nothing  daunted,  he  persuaded  other 
patrons  to  outfit  him  with  a  small  merchantman, 
the  James  and  Mary,  in  which  he  sailed  for  the 
coast  of  Hispaniola.    This  time  he  found  his  gal- 
leon and  thirty-two  tons  of  silver.    "Besides  that 
incredible  treasure  of  plate,  thus  fetched  up  from 
seven  or  eight  fathoms  under  water,  there  were 
vast  riches  of  Gold,  and  Pearls,  and  Jewels.  .  .  . 
All  ttiat  a  Spanish  frigot  was  to  be  enriched  withal." 
Up  the  Thames  sailed    the  lucky  little  mer- 
chantman in  the  year  of  1687,  with  three  hundred 
thousand  pounds  sterling  as  her  freightage  of  treas- 
ure.   Captain  Phips  made  honest  division  with  his 
backers  and,  because  men  of  his  integrity  were  not 
over  plentiful  in  England  after  the  Restoration, 
King  James  knighted  him.    He  sailed  home  to 
Boston,  "a  man  of  strong  and  sturdy  frame,"  as 
Hawthorne  fancied  him,  "whose  face  had  been 
roughened  by  northern  tempests  and  blackened 
by  the  burning  sun  of  the  West  Indies.  ...    He 
wears  an  immense  periwig  flowing  down  over  his 
shoulders.  ...    His  red,  rough  hands  which  have 
done  many  a  good  day's  work  with  the  hammer  ana 
adze  are  half -covered  by  the  delicate  lace  ruflJes  at 
the  wrist."    But  he  carried  with  him  the  manners 
of  the  forecastle,  a  man  hasty  and  unlettered  but 


1(1 


Vila  OLD  M 


^wjiuiitij,  iif  iJiT.-juadfti  other 
______^^     smaj!  mt-irliuntjnan, 

he  Jai,H^  and  }.j.ary.  in,  which  h<»  saiWi  for  »he 

•H'aidcs  Ihat 

i  iisl  11  !i(,s  >  ;  UtiiJ.  Mad  Pparls,  and  Je-w-i-. 

ill '  !..,■  .  -,       "  I  r,      ,  ,       ,    . 


""  wn'hltis 


liatkurs  aiji 


:M'd 


ui'Ut'  we  Iialf-Wivertti  by  the  delii- 
•ii^'  ^irisl,"     But  lie  carried  with 

if  the  'ii-ecastli-,  »  m.nji  iuisfv  .s-i 


la<>n  niWes  at 

•liners 
:'  but 


su:.erbly  brave  anH  i,  " 

become  GovJLi  Z^L  f^  ''"^'  ^''^'«' 
A^o^««.A  frigate  on^       f  *^"  '"P**"""  "'  the 

!""»  with  trexnendous  gusto     TuTl  '^""'"^ 
a  Governor  was  tn„    .  "''^  ''''^"°'  « 

f«vor.    Failing  both  h.  ^  ^  '""^  ""y^ 

^ure  voyage  "ft  t  „  T""  °'  ^""  "-"'- 

discission  fLlVcovlr   :  '"'^""-  "p-  ^- 

^one  upon  his  ot  SS^:"  "— ^^  have 
^helf  of  rock  anr)  .  ,  '"f^'^de,  upon  a  mighty 
hadinforit.l!:^°'-<^""'*«ewher!h:       ' 


CHAPTER  II 


TMF,   PRIVATEEKS   OF   '76 

The  wars  of  England  with  France  and  Spain  spread 
turmoil  upon  the  high  seas  during  the  greater  part 
of  the  eighteenth  century.  Yet  with  an  immense 
tenacity  of  purpose,  these  briny  forefathers  in- 
creased their,  trade  and  multiplied  their  ships  in 
the  face  of  every  manner  of  adversity.  The  sur- 
prising fact  is  that  most  of  them  were  not  driven 
ashore  to  earn  their  bread.  What  Daniel  Webster 
said  of  them  at  a  later  day  was  true  from  the  be- 
ginning: "It  is  not,  sir,  by  pro..cotion  and  bo-onties, 
but  by  unwearied  exertion,  by  extreme  economy, 
by  that  manly  and  resolute  spirit  which  relies  on 
itself  to  protect  itself.  These  causes  alone  enable 
American  ships  still  to  keep  the  element  and  show 
the  flag  of  their  country  in  distant  seas." 

What  was  likely  to  befall  a  shipmaster  in  the 
turbulent  eighteenth  century  may  be  inferred  from 

the  misfortunes   of   Captain  Michael  Driver  of 
18 


THE  PRIVATEEHS  OF  '76  ,9 

Salem.   In  i7Mhe  wa«incomn,andof  theschooner 

r^..^.o.A.,.  bound  to  the  West  Indie.  o„^ 
awful  busmess.    Jog^„,  „„„^  ^,,  ^ 

Brif'h  .^r'"'  ';  '""  *'*^"  •'^  »  P"-'--  under 
Unable  to  regam  either  hi,  schooner  or  his  two 
thousand  dol  ar  cargo,  he  sadly  took  passage  for 

he  set  sail  ,n  the  schooner  Bei^  tor  Guadaloupe 
Dunng  this  voyage,  poor  man.  he  was  captur^' 
and  earned  into  port  by  a  French  privateer.  On 
the  suggestion  that  he  might  ransom  his  vessel  on 
payment  of  four  thousand  livrcs,  he  depart  f: 

hmd  three  of  his  sailors  as  hostages 

Cash  in  hand  for  the  ransom,  the  long-sufferin. 
CapUin  Michael  Driver  turned  southw  rdtl 
now  ,n  the  schooner  Mar,,  and  he  flew  a  flag  S 

o  tl  ™ffi    "':  '"  ^"'*-^-    T^'^  — t  nothing 
o  the  ruffian  who  commanded  the  English  priva 

mJ:T  l'  ^'°'^""^  --^  ^''e  -Lent 
^«J  and  sent  her  into  New  Providence.  Here 
Captain  Driver  made  lawful  protest  before  thi 
uthorit.es  and  was  set  at  liberty  with  vessel  JLd 
cargo -an  act  of  justice  quite  unusual  in  the 
Admiralty  Court  of  the  Bahamas. 


m         THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 

Unmolested,  the  harassed  skipper  managed  to 
gain  Cape  Franjois  and  rescue  his  three  seamen 
and  his  schooner  in  exchange  for  the  ransom  money. 
As  he  was  about  to  depart  homeward  bound,  a 
French  frigate  snatched  him  and  his  crew  out  of 
their  vessel  and  threw  them  ashore  at  Santiago, 
where  for  two  months  they  existed  as  ragged  beach- 
combers until  by  some  judicial  twist  the  schooner 
was  returned  to  them.    They  worked  her  home  and 
presented  their  long  list  of  grievances  to  the  colo- 
nial Government  of  Massachusetts,  which  duly  for- 
warded them  —  and  that  was  the  end  of  it.    Three 
years  had  been  spent  in  this  catalogue  of  misad- 
ventures, and  Captain  Driver,  his  owners,  and  his 
men  were  helpless  against  such  intolerable  aggres- 
sion.    They  and  their  kind  were  a  prey  to  every 
scurvy  rascal  who  misused  a  privateering  com- 
mission to  fill  his  own  pockets. 

Stoutly  resolved  to  sail  and  trade  as  they  pleased, 
these  undaunted  Americans,  nevertheless,  in- 
creased their  business  on  blue  water  until  shortly 
before  the  Revolution  the  New  England  fleet  alone 
numbered  six  hundred  sail.  Its  captains  felt  at 
home  in  Surinam  and  the  Canaries.  They  trimmed 
their  yards  in  the  reaches  of  the  Mediterranean  and 
the  North  Sea  or  bargained  thriftily  in  the  Levant. 


THE  PRIVATEEBS  OP  'Tfl  j, 

-rte  wLale«  of  1  antudcet.  in  their  .pple-bowed 
bark..  «plo^  and  l,unted  in  distant  .e...  .,1 

Baffin  Bay.  Gumea.  and  Brazil.   It  wa,  they  who 
.-P.red  Edn^und  Burke',  f.n.iliar  euC    ■  No 
-  but  i.  vexed  by  their  fisheries.   No  Zate  that 
'^  not  a  witness  to  their  toils.    Neither  the  per- 
severance  of  Holland  nor  the  activity  of  Fran., 
nor  the  dexterous  and  firm  sagacity  of  England 
ever  earned  this  most  perilous  mode  of  ha«ly 
mdustiy  to  the  extent  to  which  it  has  been  pushed 
by  thas  recent  people  -  a  people  who  are  still,  as 
t  were,  but  .n  the  gristle  and  not  yet  hardened  into 
the  bone  of  manhood." 

In   1762.   seventy-eight   whalers  cleared  from 
Amencan  ports,  of  which  more  than  half  were 

Ird!r":,t*'  ^^^^^^-^'-tertherewereone 
hundred  and  twenty-five  whalers  out  of  Nantu.Ket 
wbch  took  14,331  barrels  of  oil  valued  at  $358  200 
We  th^e  vessels  averaged  no  more  than  n^ety 
ton^  a  fishing  smack  of  today,  and  yet  they  bat- 
tered their  way  half  around  the  watery  globe 
and  com  ortably  supported  six  thousand  p^;! 
who  dwelt  on  a  sandy  island  unfit  for  faLing 
^dhavingnootherindustries.  Every  Nantucket 
lad  sailed  for  his  "lay"  or  share  of  the  catch  and 


««  THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 

aspired  to  command  eventually  a  whaler  of  his 
own. 

Whaler,  merchantman,  and  slaver  were  training 
a  host  of  incomparable  seamen  destined  to  harty 
the  commerce  of  England  under  the  new-bom 
Stars  and  Stripes,  and  now.  in  1775,  on  the  brink 
of  actual  war.  Parliament  flung  a  final  provocation 
and  aroused  the  furious  enmity  of  the  fishermen 
who  thronged  the  Grand  Bank.    Lord  North  pro- 
posed  to  forbid  the  colonies  to  export  fish  to  tho' 
foreign  markets  in  which  every  seacoast  village 
was  vitally  concerned,  and  he  also  contemplated 
driving  the  fishing  fleets  from  their  haunts  off 
Newfoundland.     This  was  to  rr,l    six  thousand 
sturdy  men  of  a  livelihood  afloat  and  to  spread 
ruin  among  the  busy  ports,  such  as  Marblehead 
and  Gloucester,  from  which  sailed  hundreds  of 
pinks,  snows,  and  schooners.     This  measure  be- 
came law  notwithstanding  the  protesU  of  twenty- 
one  peers  of  the  realm  who  declared:     "We  dis- 
sent because  the  attempt  to  coerce  by  famine  the 
whole  body  of  the  inhabitants  of  great  and  popu- 
lous provinces  is  without  example  in  the  history 
of  this,  or  perhaps,  of  any  civilized  nation." 

The  sailormen  bothered  their  heads  very  little 
about  taxation  without  representation  but  whetted 


THE  PRIVATEERS  OP  '78  ss 

their  anger  with  grudge*  more  robust.    They  had 
been  beggared  and  bullied  and  shot  at  from  the 
Bay  of  Biscay  to  Barbados,  and  no  sooner  was  the 
Continental  Congress  ready  to  issue  privateering 
commissions  and  letters  of  marque  than  for  them 
it  was  up  anchor  and  away  to  bag  a  Britisher. 
Scarcely  had  a  shipmaster  signaled  his  arrival  with 
a  deep  freight  of  logwood,  molasses,  or  sugar  than 
he  received  orders  to  discharge  with  all  speed  and 
clear  his  decks  for  mounting  heavier  batteries  and 
slinging  the  hammocks  of  a  hundred  eager  priva- 
teersmen  who  had  signed  articles  in  the  tavern 
rendezvous.    The  timbered  warehouses  were  filled 
with  long-toms  and  nine-pounders,  muskets,  blun- 
derbusses, pistols,  cutlases,  boarding-pikes,  hand 
grenades,  tomahawks,  grape,  canister,  and  double- 
headed  shot. 

In  the  narrow,  gabled  streets  of  Salem,  Boston, 
New  York,  and  Baltimore,  crowds  trooped  after 
the  fifes  and  drums  with  a  strapping  recruiting 
officer  to  enroll  "all  gentlemen  seamen  and  able- 
bodied  landsmen  who  had  a  mind  to  distinguish 
themselves  in  the  glorious  cause  of  their  countiy 
and  make  their  fortunes."  Many  a  ship's  com- 
pany was  mustered  between  noon  and  sunset,  in- 
cluding men  who  had  served  in  armed  merchantmen 


«4  THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 

•nd  who  in  times  of  nominal  peace  had  fought  the 
marauden  of  Europe  or  whipped  the  conair.  of 
Barbary  in  the  Strait  of  Gibraltar.  Never  was  a 
race  of  wamen  so  admirably  fitted  for  the  daring 
trade  of  privateering  as  the  crews  of  these  tall 
sloops,  topsail  schooners,  and  smart  square-riggers, 
their  sides  checkered  with  gun-ports,  and  ready  U> 
drive  to  sea  like  hawks. 

In  some  instances  the  assurance  of  these  hardy 
men  was  both  absurd  and  sublime.  Ramshackle 
boats  with  twenty  or  thirty  men  aboard,  mounting 
one  or  two  old  guns,  sallied  out  in  the  expectation 
«rf  gold  and  glory,  only  to  be  captured  by  the  first 
British  cruiser  that  chanced  to  sight  them.  A 
few  even  sailed  with  no  cannon  at  all.  confident 
of  taking  them  out  of  the  first  prize  overhauled 
by  laying  alongside  —  and  so  in  some  cases  they 
actually  did. 

The  privateersmen  of  the  Revolution  played  a 
laiger  part  in  winning  the  war  than  has  been  com- 
monly recognized.  This  fact,  however,  was  clearly 
perceived  by  Englishmen  of  that  era,  as  the  Lon- 
don Spectator  candidly  admitted:  "The  books  at 
Lloyds  will  recount  it,  and  the  rate  of  assurances 
at  that  time  will  prove  what  their  diminutive 
strength  was  able  to  effect  in  the  face  of  our  navy. 


THE  PRIVATEERS  OP  76  eg 

•nd  tl,«t  wh  ..  nearly  one  hundred  pennanU  we« 
flying  on  our  coa.t.  Were  we  able  to  prevent  their 
gomg  w  .H  out.  or  ,top  them  fwm  taking  our 
trade  ana  our  store^hip.  even  in  sight  of  our  garri- 
W  Be..de..  were  they  not  in  the  English  and 
ln.h  Channel.,  picking  up  our  homeward  bound 
trade,  .ending  their  prizes  into  French  and  Spanish 
ports  to  the  great  terror  of  our  merchanU  and  shin- 
owners?"  ' 

"Hie  naval  forces  of  the  Thirteen  Colonies  were 
pitifully  feeble  in  comparison  with  the  mighty 
fleets  of  the  enemy  whose  flaming  broadsides 
upheld  the  ancient  doctrine  that  "the  Monarchs 
of  Great  Britain  have  a  peculiar  and  Sovereign 
authority  upon  the  Ocean  ...  from  the  Laws  of 
God  and  of  Nature,  besides  an  uninterrupted 
Fruition  of  it  for  so  many  Ages  past  as  that  its 
Beginnings  cannot  be  traced  out."' 

In  1776  only  thirty-one  Continental  cruisers  of 
all  classes  were  in  commission,  and  this  number  was 
swiftly  diminished  by  capture  and  blockade  until 
in  1788  no  more  than  seven  ships  flew  the  flag  of 
the  American  Navy.  On  the  other  hand,  at  the 
close  of  1777.  one  hundred  and  sevcnty-four  private 
armed  vessels  had  been  commissioned,  mounting 

'  The  Seaman'i  Vade-Mecum.     London,  1744. 


1     ;f 


I**' 


p"  f 


M  THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 
two  thousand  guns  and  canying  nine  thousand 
men.  During  this  brief  period  of  the  war  they 
took  as  prizes  733  British  merchantmen  and  in- 
flicted losses  of  more  than  two  million  pounds 
rterhng.  Over  t™  thousand  seamen  were  made 
prisoners  at  a  time  when  England  sorelv  needed 
them  for  drafting  into  her  navy.  To  lose  them  was 
a  far  more  serious  matter  than  for  General  Wash- 
ington to  capture  as  many  Hessian  mercenaries 
who  could  be  replaced  by  purchase. 

In  some  respects  privateering  as  wa-ed  a  century 
and  more  ago  was  a  sordid,  unlovely  business,  the 
rulmg  motive  being  rather  a  greed  of  gain  than  an 
ardent  love  of  country.    Shares  in  lucky  ships  were 
bought  and  sold  in  the  gambling  spirit  of  a  stock 
exchange.    Fortunes  were  won  and  lost  regardless 
of  the  public  service.    It  became  almost  impossible 
to  recruit  men  for  the  navy  because  they  preferred 
the  chance  of  booty  in  a  privateer.    For  instance, 
the  State  of  Massachusetts  bought  a  twenty-gun 
ship,  the  Protector,  as  a  contribution  to  the  naval 
strength,  and  one  of  her  crew,  Ebenezer  Fox,  wrote 
of  the  effort  to  enlist  sufficient  men:     "The  re- 
cruiting business  went  on  slowly,  however,  but  at 
length  upwards  of  three  hundred  men  were  carried, 
dragged,  and  driven  abroad;   of  all  ages,  kinds. 


THE  PRIVATEERS  OF  '76  vt 

and  descriptions;  in  all  the  various  stages  of  in- 
toxication from  that  of  sober  tipsiness  to  beastly 
drunkenness;  with  the  uproar  and  clamor  that 
may  be  more  easily  imagined  than  described. 
Such  a  motiey  group  has  never  been  seen  since 
Falstaff's  ragged  regiment  paraded  the  streets  of 
Coventry." 

There  was  nothing  of  glory  to  boast  of  in  fetch- 
ing into  port  some  litUe  Nova  Scotia  coasting 
schooner  with  a  cargo  of  deals  and  potatoes,  whose 
master  was  also  the  owner  and  who  lost  the  sadngs 
of  a  lifetime  because  he  lacked  the  men  and  guns 
to  defend  his  property  against  spoliation.     The 
war  was  no  concern  of  his,  and  he  was  the  victim 
of  a  system  now  obsolete  among  civilized  nations, 
a  relic  of  a  barbarous  and  piratical  age  whose  spirit 
has  been  revived  and  gloried  in  recently  only  by 
the  Government  of  the  German  Empire.   The  chief 
fault  of  the  privateersman  was  that  he  sailed  and 
fought  for  his  own  gain,  but  he  was  never  guilty 
of  sinking  ships  with  passengers  and  crew  aboard', 
and  very  often  he  played  the  gentleman  in  gallant 
style.    Nothing  could  have  seemed  to  him  more 
abhorrent  and  incredible  than  a  kind  of  wan'are 
which  should  drown  women  and  children  because 
they  had  embarked  under  an  enemy's  flag. 


#^;    k 


f 


tr 


i  I:. 


28  THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 

Extraordinaiy  as  were  the  successes  of  the  Yan- 
kee p„vatee«.  it  was  a  gan,e  of  give-and-take,  a 
weapon  whach  cut  both  ways,  and  the  temptation 
«  to  extol  their  audacious  achievements  while 
glossmg  over  the  heavy  losses  which  their  own 
merchant  marine  suffered.    The  weakness  of  pri 
vateering  was  that  it  was  wholly  offensive  and 
could  not,  like  a  strong  navy,  protect  its  own  com- 
merce from  depredation.      While  the  Americans 
were  capturing  over  seven  hundred  British  vessels 
dunng  the  first  two  years  of  the  war.  as  many  as 
mne  hundred  American  ships  were  taken  or  sunk 
by  the  enemy,  a  rate  of  destruction  which  fairly 
swept  the  Stars  and  Stripes  from  the  tracks  <rf 
ocean  commerce.    As  prizes  these  vessels  were  sold 
at  Liveipool  and  London  for  an  average  amount 
of  two  thousand  pounds  each  and  the  loss  to  the 
Amencan  owners  was,  of  course,  ever  so  much 
larger. 

The  fact  remains,  nevertheless  -  and  it  is  « 
brilliant  page  of  history  to  recall -that  in  an 
mchoate  nation  without  a  navy,  with  blockading 
squadrons  sealmg  most  of  its  ports,  with  ragged 
armies  on  land  which  retreated  oftener  thanXy 
fought,  private  armed  ships  dealt  the  maritime 
prestige  of  Great  Britain  a  far  deadlier  blow  than 


THE  PRIVATEEBS  OF  TB  a» 

the  Dutch,  French,  and  Spanish  were  able  to  in- 
flict   In  England,  there  resulted  actual  distress 
even  lack  of  food,  because  these  intrepid  seamen 
could  not  be  driven  away  from  her  own  coasts  and 
continued  to  snatch  their  prizes  from  under  the 
guns  of  British  forts  and  fleets.    The  plight  of  the 
West  India  Colonies  was  even  worse,  as  witness 
this  letter  from  a  merchant  of  Grenada:  "We  are 
happy  if  we  can  get  anything  for  money  by  reason 
of  the  quantity  of  vessels  taken  by  the  Americans 
Afleet-of  vessels  came  from  Ireland  a  few  days  ago 
From  sixty  vessels  that  departed  from  Ireland  not 
above  twenty-five  arrived  in  this  and  neighboring 
Mlands.  the  others,  it  is  thought,  being  all  taken 
by  American  privateers.    God  knows,  if  this  Ameri- 
can war  continues  much  longer,  we  shaU  all  die  of 
hunger." 

On  both  sides,  by  far  the  greater  number  of 
captures  was  made  during  the  earlier  period  of  the 
war  which  cleared  the  seas  of  the  smaller,  slower 
and  unarmed  vessels.  As  the  war  progressed  and 
Uie  profits  flowed  in.  swifter  and  larger  ships  were 
bmlt  for  the  special  business  of  privateering  until 
the  game  resembled  actual  naval  warfare.  Where- 
as, at  first,  craft  of  ten  guns  with  forty  or  fifty  men 
had  been  considered  adequate  for  the  service, 


If-  If 


80         THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 
th«e  OP  four  yea«  later  ships  were  afloat  with  a 
score  of  heavy  cannon  and  a  trained  crew  of  a 
hundred  and  fifty  or  two  hundred  men.  ready  to 
engage  a  sloop  of  war  or  to  stand  up  to  the 
enemy  s  largest  p-ivateers.    In  those  days  single 
dup  actions,  now  almost  forgotten  in  naval  tit- 
ties, were  fought  with  illustrious  skill  and  cour- 
age, and  commanders  won  victories  worthy  of 
companson  with  deeds  distinguished  in  the  annals 
01  the  American  Navy. 


If 


CHAPTER  m 

OUT  CUTLABES  AND  BOARD ! 

Salem  was  the  foremost  privateering  port  of  the 
devolution,  and  from  this  pleasa-.f,  harbor,  W 
smce  deserted  by  ships  and  sailonnen,  there  fiUed 
away  past  Cape  Ann  one  hundred  and  fifty-eight 
vessels  of  all  sizes  to  scan  the  horizon  for  British 
topsaJs.     They  accounted  for  four  hundred  prizes, 
or  half  the  whole  number  to  the  credit  of  Ameri- 
can  arms  afloat.    This  preeminence  was  due  partly 
to  freedom  from   a  close  blockade  and  partiy 
to  a  seafaring  population  which  was  bom  and 
bred  to  its  trade  and  knew  no  other.     Resides 
the  crew.      '  Salem  merchantmen,  privateering 
enhsted  tn.    die  fishermen  of  ports  nearby  and 
the  mariners  of   Boston  whose   commerce  had 
been  snuffed  out  by  the  British  occupation.    Phik- 
dephia,   Baltimore,  and   Charleston  sent  some 
splendid  armed  ships  to  sea  but  not  with  the  im- 
petuous  rush  nor  in  anything  like  the  numbers 
u 


ilMj? 


11 


3- 1! 

;\  i, 


»«         THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 

enrolled  by  this  gray  old  town  wh«e  fame 
unique.  "^nose  rame  was 

For  the  most  part,  the  records  of  all  th«»  K 

-nd  sail  i„  tie  N  W  it;37:;r ""''  "'  " 
li«h  colors  and  <^n.^euoi^ZtrT^^'^- 
At  5.20  took  in  the  s^^^Ztl  T' 

she  fired  a  broadside     w  '*"*  *"»« 

wboardbatt:rd\t:;„ri:ir7" 

Got  out  the  boau  and  boarded  terete  „      Ji""' 
be  the  British  bri,  ^<^  W  Lf^r^R: 
Janeiro,  mounting  fourteen  cannon  "^it^f 
-d  then  one  finds  in  these  old  IjouLlj 

STthr.":rjr^'*-^-- 
™«in..:dt;LtCLt-«^^ 

B«H.k  I  made  to  keep  the  Accounts  of  my  Voy^ 

Ite  a  Chir  ^"'"'"''  '"*  '  ^"'^  -">  ">- 
Z  d!  t  T.  ''"*  '^y  ^•''^d  Mind.  On 
0- Day  I  was  Chaced  by  Two  Ships  of  War  whi^ 


OUT  CUTLASES  AND  BOARD!  33 

I  tuck  to  be  Enemies,  but  «mingon  thick  Weather 
I  have  lost  site  of  them  and  so  conclude  my«,If 
escaped  which  is  a  small  good  Fortune  in  the 
micfate  of  my  Discouragements.-    A  burst  of 
g««ty  laughter  still  echoes  along  the  crowded  deck 
of  the  letter-of-marque  schooner  Success,  whose 
master.  Captein  Philip  Thrash,  inserted  this  di- 
verting comment  in  his  humdrum  record  of  the 
days  work:     "At  one  half  past  8  discovered  a  sail 
ahead.    Tacked  ship.    At  9  tacked  ship  again  and 
past  just  to  Leeward  of  the  Sail  which  appeared 
to  be  a  damn'd  Comical  Boat,  by  G— d  "■ 

There  are  a  few  figures  of  the  time  'and  place 
Which  stand  out.  full-length,  in  vivid  «.lon.  aga.^ 
a  background  that  satisfies  the  desire  of  romance 
and  thnlhngly  conveys  the  spirit  of  the  time  and 
the  place.     Such  a  one  was  Captain  Jonathan 
Haraden,  Salem  privateersman.  who  captured  one 
thousand  British  camion  afloat  and  is  worthy  to 
be  ranked  as  one  of  the  ablest  sea-fighters  of  his 
generation.    He  was  a  merchant  mariner,  a  master 
at  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution,  who  had  fol- 
owed  the  sea  since  boyhood.    But  it  was  more 
to  hu,  taste  to  command  the  Salem  ship  General 

^^om  the  m»u«ript  colI«ti.»  <rf  th.  E««  totituU;  8.1«.. 


'^ 


m 


I 


1^1 


M  THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 

P^^V.,  of  180  ton,  which  was  fitted  out  under 

r«il  ,  °""^"^  "^  **''  "P""*  «rf  "80.  She 
earned  fourteen  six-pounde«  and  forty-five  n,en 
and  boys,  nothing  very  fonnidable.  whi  cIpZ 
Haraden  sailed  for  Bilbao  with  a  cargo  of  sC^ 
Dunng  the  voyage,  before  his  crew  had  been  hL 
mered  anto  shape,  he  beat  off  a  British  privateer 

^f  bC  """  ""'  '"'''  ""'^  ''^  ^^  ««y 

Golden  Eagle,  larger  than  his  own  ship.  I„.tead  of 
shrffng  h.s  course  to  avoid  her.  Haraden  clapped 
on  sa,l  and  steered  alongside  after  nightfall,  roaring 
Oirough  h,s  trumpet:  "What  ship  is  this?  Tn 
American  frigate,  sir.  Strike,  or  I'll  sink  you  with 
a  broadside."  "^youwitn 

Dazed  by  this  unexpected  summons  in  thegloom. 
the  master  of  the  Oolden  Eagle  prompUy  surren- 
dered, and  a  prize  crew  was  thrown  aboard  with 
orders  to  follow  the  Pickering  into  Bilbao.    While 
just  outsade  that  Spanish  harbor,  a  sfange  sail 
was  descned  and  again  Jonathan  Haraden  cleared 
foracfon.    The  vessel  turned  out  to  be  the  ^oAifl«, 
one  o  the  most  powerful  privateers  out  of  London, 
with  forty  guns  and  a  hundred  and  fifty  men.  or 
almost  thnce  the  fighting  strength  of  the  littic 


OUT  CUTLASES  AND  BOARD!  S5 

Pickering     She  wa«.  i„  fact,  more  like  a  sloop  of 
Z'h  ?!  ''^*''"  """^•=»  ^'"'W  J--"'  X 

S'epliJr"'"^"'^'""™"''^^'^- 

had  no  Idea  of  e.c«pmg  under  cover  of  it.  He  waa 
wa.  .„g  for  the  morning  breeze  and  a  chance  to 
fight. tout  to  a  finish.  HewasahandsomeC 
with  an  a.r  of  serene  composure  and  a  touch  of  the 

moments.  Having  prepared  his  ship  for  battlf  he 
slept  soundly  until  dawn  and  then  dresJtfh 
^t.d.ous  care  to  stroll  on  deck,  where  he  behe  d 
tte  Ach^aes  bearing  down  on  him  with  her  c  J 
at  quarters. 

His  own  men  were  clustered  behind  their  open 
ports,  matches  Hght«l.  tackles  and  breechingsi: 
off  cn>wbars.  handspikes,  and  sponge-staves  7n 
place.  g„m,ers  stripped  to  the  waist,  powder-boys 

^^y  for  the  word  like  sprinters  on  the  m  J 
Forty-five  of  them  against  a  hundred  and  fifty 
a^d  Captain  Haraden.  debonair,  unruffled,  wa^ 
mg  to  and  fro  with  a  leisurely  demeanor,  relrw 
^at  although  the  AckUl^s  appeared  to  be  su^or 
•n  force,  "he  had  no  doubt  they  would  beatSi 


t>  H!' 


««         THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 

they  were  firm  and  «teady  and  did  not  throw  away 
their  fire."  ' 

It  waa,  indeed,  a  memorable  «ea-picture.  the 
sturdy  Piekmng  riding  deep  with  her  burden  of 
sugar  and  seeming  smaller  than  she  really  was, 
the  Achm,  towering  like  a  frigate,  and  all  BiC 
bao  turned  out  to  watch  the  duel,  shore  and  head- 
lands crowded  with  spectators,  the  blue  harbor- 
mouth  gay  with  an  immense  flotilla  of  fishing-boats 
and  pleasure  craft.     The  stake  for  which  Haraden 
fought  was  to  retake  the  Ooldm  Eagle  prize  and 
to  gain  his  port.    His  seamanship  was  flawless 
Vastly  outnumbered  if  it  should  come  to  boarding, 
he  handled  his  vessel  so  as  to  avoid  the  AchUul 
while  he  poured  the  broadsides  into  her.    After 
two  hours  the  London  privateer  emerged  from  the 
smoke  wUch  had  obscured  the  combat  and  put 
out  to  sea  in  flight,  hulled  through  and  through, 
while  a  fareweU  flight  of  crowbars,  with  which 
the  guns  of  the  Pickering  had  been  crammed  to 
the  murzle.  ripped  through  her  sails  and  rigging. 
Haraden  hoisted  canvas  and  drove  in  chase 
but  the  AchtUei  had  the  heels  of  him  "with  a  main- 
sail as  large  as  a  ship  of  the  line. "  and  reluctantly 
he  wore  ship  and.  with  the  GoUen  Eagle  again  in 
his  possession,  he  sailed  to  an  anchoragt   a  Bilbao 


OUT  CUTLASES  AND  BOARD!  s7 

liarbor.  The  Spanish  populace  welcomed  him  with 
tremendou.  enthusiasm.  He  was  carried  through 
the  streeU  in  a  holiday  procewion  and  was  the  hero 
of  banquets  and  public  receptions. 

Such  a  man  was  bound  to  be  the  idol  of  his 
sailors  and  one  of  them  quite  plausibly  related  that 
80  great  was  the  confidence  he  inspired  that  if  he 
but  looked  at  a  sail  through  his  glass  and  told  the 
helmsman  to  steer  for  her,  the  observation  went 
round,' If  sht  is  an  enemy,  she  is  ours.'" 

It  was  in  this  same  General  Pickering,  no  longer 
sugar-laden  but  in  cruising  trim,  that  Jonathan 
Haraden  accomplished  a  feat  which  Paul  Jones 
might  have  been  proud  to  claim.     There  lifted 
above  the  sky-line  three  armed  merchantmen  saU- 
>ng  in  company  from  Halifax  to  New  York,  a  brig 
of  fourteen  guns,  a  ship  of  sixteen  guns,  a  sloop  of 
twelve  guns.    When  they  flew  signals  and  formed 
m  line,  the  ship  alone  appeared  to  outmatch  the 
Pickering,  but  Haraden,  in  that  lordly  manner  of 
his,  assured  his  men  that  "he  had  no  doubt  what- 
ever that  if  they  would  do  their  duty  he  would 
quickly  capture  the  three  vessels."    Here  was  per- 
formance very  much  out  of  the  ordinary,  naval 
strategy  of  an  exceptionally  high  order,  and  yet 
It  is  dismissed  by  the  only  witness  who  took  the 


M         THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 
trouble  to  ^ention  it  i„  thene  W,  c«„.l  wort.: 
TJ«  he  d.d  w.th  great  ease  by  going  .,ong,.de  of 
each  of  them,  one  after  the  other." 

One  more  .tory  of  thi,  master  ^.a-rover  of  the 
Revolution,  .ailor  and  gentleman,  who  .erved  hi. 
country  so  much  more  brilliantly  than  many  a 
la.d.manl.„dedmthewritten  histories  of  thewar. 

royal  ma.l  packet  bound  to  England  from  the  West 
Indae,  one  of  the  largest  merchant  vessels  of  her 
teL  A  r"'^'^  *°  '^''^'"^  '"''^''  '^-^^  P"va. 
They  battered  each  other  like  two  pugilisU  for  fou 
hours  and  even  then  the  decision  was  still  in  the 
balance^  Then  Horaden  sheered  off  to  mend  1 
damaged  gear  and  splintered  hull  before  closing  in 

He  then  discovered  that  all  his  powder  had  been 

cal  mg  u  a  drawn  battle,  he  rammed  home  this 
ast  shot  in  the  locker,  and  ran  down  to  ^uL^ 

to  the  other  quarter-deck:    "I  will  give  you  five 
mmutes  to  haul  down  your  colors.   If  they  r^^I 
down  at  the  end  of  that  time.  I  will  fire  mt^you 
and  sink  you.  so  help  me  God." 


OUT  CITL/ES  AND  BOARD-  39 

-be.ten.    Haraden  .tood  with  watch  in^han^     i 
wnorou^Iy  counteci  off  the  „i„ute«.    u  ^^^  the 

.trongerwili  and  not  the  heavier  .etalthaT Jon 
^IT    '^°''^""'««-^  »»•'-"  broad.de,:: 

g.I  .nt  En«l„h  skipper  whose  deck.,  were  alreud, 

shouted  the  nunutes  and  his  gunn.rs  blew  their 
matche..    At  "our"  the  r«|  ensign  ca„,c  flutter 

Another  merchant  seaman  of  this  muster-roll  of 
pa^ots  was  Silas  Talbot,  who  took  to  salt  wate 

Ln  ;'  "'  ^''^  ■**  °'  *^^'-  -d  was  a 

prosperous  sh.pmas»  r  at  twenty-one  with  savings 
mvested  m  a  house  of  his  own  in  Providence  En 
luting  under  Washington,  he  was  made  a  capUta 
of  .nfa^try  and  was  soon  p^moted.  but  he  w^ 
restless  ashore  and  glad  to  obtain  an  -.  d  ZZ 
-nt    As  Colonel  Talbot  he  selected  sixty IZ^' 

them  aboard  the  small  sloop  Argo  in  May.  1779 
to  pun.h  the  New  York  Tories  who  were  equ  p 
pmg  pnvateers  against  their  own  countrymen  and 
workmg  great  mischief  in  Long  Island  Sound     So 


t 

t 


\m 


*0         THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 
serious  w«  the  .ituation  that  General  Gates  found 
It  aW  ,„po„ible  to  obtain  food  suppbes  for  the 
northern  department  of  the  Continental  army 

SJ«Ta  botandhisnauticalinfant^enprompt- 
tyW.nw.ththeNewYorkprivateerZ.4.a"^ 
mateh  for  h,«  «.d  as  promptly  sent  her  into  port. 
He  then  ran  offshore  and  picked  up  and  carried  in- 

Yorttrr  '  "'  ''"■''*^'  *'^'^«^  ^-  New 
W«t  T  .  «  "7°^  °'  nierchandise  from  the 
West  Indies.  But  he  was  particularly  anxious  to 
square  account,  with  a  renegade  CapUin  flTard 

whomadeNewporthisba^eandhadcapturedmany 
Amencan  vessels  with  the  stout  brig  King  Georae 

old  neighbors  and  friends." 

On  his  second  cruise  in  the  Argo,  young  Silas 
Talbot  en«,unt^  the  perfidious  Kir^  clge  to 

one  b«,ads.de  after  another,  first  hailing  Capta^ 

Hazardbyname  and  cursing  him  in  double-shotted 
Phn^e.  for  the  traitorous  swab  that  he  was.  Siet 
the  seagoing  infant^r  scrambled  over  the  bulwarks 


OUT  CUTLASES  AND  BOARD!  41 

"even  the  women,  both  young  and  old,  expressed 
the  greatest  joy." 

With  no  very  heavy  fighting,  Talbot  had  cap- 
tured five  vessels  and  was  keen  to  show  what  his 
crew  could  do  against  mettlesome  foemen.    He 
found  them  at  last  well  out  to  sea  in  a  large  ship 
which  seemed  eager  to  engage  him.    Only  a  few 
hundred  feet  apart  through  a  long  afternoon,  they 
bnskly  and  cheerily  belabored  each  other  with 
gmpe  and  solid  shot.    Talbofs  speaking-trumpet 
was  shot  out  of  his  hand,  the  tails  of  his  coat  were 
shorn  off,  and  all  the  oflScers  and  men  stationed 
with  him  on   the  quarter-deck   were  kill   '   or 
wounded. 

His  crew  reported  that  the  Argo  was  in  a  sinking 
condition  with  the  water  flooding  the  gun-deck, 
but  he  told  them  to  lower  a  man  or  two  in  the  bight 
of  a  Ime  and  they  pluckily  plugged  the  holes  from 
overside.  There  was  a  lusty  huzza  when  the  Eng- 
lishman's maimnast  crashed  to  the  deck  and  this 
fimshed  the  affair.  Silas  Talbot  found  that  he  had 
trounced  the  privateer  Dragon,  of  twice  his  own 
tomwge  and  with  the  advantage  in  both  guns  and 
men. 

While  his  crew  was  patching  the  Argo  and  pump- 
mg  the  water  from  her  hold,  the  lookout  yeUed 


: 


„  11 


«         TOE  OLD  MERCHANT  MURINE 

those  of  his  sSf  r        .'■'  ""^^  ''"y  «»«J  told 
for  a  second  Z     f"  .T'''^  *°  P«p„e 

Privateer  ioin^te  iLeZlrr  ^l^'^- 
of  he,di.i:;«:erc^Sdt;''^  "^^^  '^  ^^^ 

«et  safely  to  port. »  ^"  '°  ""^^  ''''d  ^''t 

Men  fought  and  slew  earh  nt»,      •      . 

"^^^."1  r  """'•- ■ 

could  have  blown  her  7„T     1  "^  '^^''^ 

^"  *o  kingdom  come  with 


OUT  CUTLASES  AND  BOARD!  43 

a  broadside  of  thirty  guns.    The  little  ^r^o  wa^ 
-tually  becalined  within  short  range.  bS    Z 
company  got  out  the  sweeps  and  rowed  her  som" 
cfasunce  before  darkness  and  a  favoring  slanTof 
wxnd  carried  then,  clear.    In  the  summer  of  1780 
Capta.n  Silas  Talbot,  again  .  mariner  by  til  ^ 
g.ven  the  private  cruiser  General  Wa^hl^'Z 
one  hundred  and  twenty  n,e..  but  he  w  JSsTo^ 
tunate  w:th  her  than  when  afloat  in  the  tinrJl 
with  h,ss«ty  Continentals.    Off  Sandy  H^k  he 
ran  .nto  the  British  fleet  under  Adn^iri  A^buth 
not  and.  being  o„tsa:.ed  in  a  gale  of  wind,  he  wal 

CuUoden.  After  a  year  in  English  prisons  he  w^ 
released  and  n,ade  his  way  home.  seLng  no  nl" 
m  the  war  but  having  the  honor  to  comtandT 
™rtal  fngate  Constitution  in  1799  as  a  captl 
in  the  American  Navy.  "•P«un 

In  several  notable  instances  the  privatee«men 
taed  condus,ons  with  ships  that  flew  the  royal 
-gn.andgotthebette.-ofthem.  The  he^^ 
^uncommonly  brilliant  action  of  this  «.rt  w^ 
Captam  George  Geddes  of  Philadelphia,  who  w« 
entrusts,  with  the  Congress,  a  noble  pr  va^r  " 

twentHour  guns  and  two  hundred  men.    Se'L^ 
of  the  smaller  British  cruisers  had  be.n  senlg 


m 


\'Jl 


*4  THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 
pmies  asWe  to  plunder  estates  along  the  south- 
ern shores,  and  one  of  then,,  the  sloop  of  war  s2 
T'  ''•^  7"  -«1«1  Wa^ington-s  hoL  at  MoZl 
Vernon  Later  she  shifted  to  the  coast  of  cTi^a 
m  qu^t  of  loot  and  was  unlucky  enough  toL 
athwart  Captain  Geddes  in  the  Con^e./  "^ 

The  pnvatcer  was  the  more  formidable  ship  and 
faster  on  the  wind,  forcing  CapUin  Sterling  of  ^e 
Savage  to  accept  the  challenge.  Disabli  alrft 
veo^  early  in  the  fight.  Captain  Geddes  was  unabt 

Tattr.  T'"°"'''''"''''''«''-°«'«y«terali; 
b^tUed  hand-to-hand,  hulls  grinding  agai..  each 
other,  the  gumiers  scorched  by  the  flashes  of  the 
cannon  m  the  p.^ts  of  the  opposing  ship.  J^ 
scarcely  «H>m  to  ply  the  ramme«.  and  the  Jo« 
throwing  missiles  f «n>  the  deck.,  hand  grenades 
cold  shot.  «^aps  of  iron,  belaying-pins 
As  the  vessel.  lay  interlocked,  the  Savage  was 

;l VT"*""  r'  '"''"^  ''^^^'  ^Pi>« 
upon  lie  forecastle  head,  told  the  boarde„  to 
follow  him^  Before  they  could  swing  their  cut 
lases  and  dash  over  the  hammock-nettings,  the 
British  boatswain  waved  his  cap  and  yS  tha 
the  Sa.^.  had  surrendered.  Captain  Sterling 
was  dead,  eight  othe«  were  killed,  and  twen^ 
four  wounded.    The  American  loss  was  about  the 


OUT  CIJTLASES  AND  BOARD!  4a 

•2«-  Captain  Gedde,.  however,  wa.  unable  to 
«velu,pnze  because  a  British  frigate  swooped 
down  and  took  them  both  into  Charleston. 

When  peace  came  in  178S.  it  was  independence 
dearly  bought  by  land  and  sea.  and  no  sTall  part 
of  the  pnce  was  the  Joss  of  a  thousand  merehant 

or  ?  r''  '"  *'''''  '•°-  P°^  -  so- 
other misfortunes  added  to  the  toll  of  destruction 
The  great  fishmg  fleets  which  had  been  the  chief 
occupation  of  coastwi«,  New  England  were  almost 
oblUerated  and  their  crews  were  scattered.  Many 
of  the  men  had  changed  their  alliance  and  were 

Jtoi  V :'  ""''"•  ""^  "^^^  --  -P"-" 

health  from  long  confinement  in  British  prisons. 
Tie  ocean  was  empty  of  the  stanch  schooner 
whach  had  raced  home  with  lee  rails  awash  to  chee" 
waitmg  wives  and  sweethearts, 
mo-'n!***  «*  Nantucket  and  its  whalers  was  even 

ftHh  T"  ^"~''«'y°'''*«'-ely  "land  amid 
Oie  shoals  was  helpless  against  raids  by  sea,  and 
Its  ships  and  Storehouses  were  destroyed  without 

rj'u^'^^  """"^^  '°  *'**"*  ^»t«"  ^e"'  cap- 
tured before  they  were  even  aware  that  a  state 

of  war  existed.  Of  a  fleet  numbering  a  hundred 
and  fifty  sail,  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  were 


Ml 


ft 


<«         IBE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 
taken  by  the  enemy  and  Nantucket  whaling  suf- 
fe^dalmct  total  extinction.    The«e  ,ean.en  thus 
~bbed  of  the.  livelihood,  fought  nobly  for  the" 
countp.  s  cau.e.  Thei«  wa.  not  the  brid  to  3ul^ 

^llldo:"^-'^^'^^''""'^"^  «>--«, 

killed  or  made  prisoners  during  the  Revolution 

b?WndT  ?'"'""'^^y-«lN''vyand 

behindthegunsofprivateers.    There  were  tw^nty- 

when  Paul  Jones  steered  her  across  the  Atlantic  on 

.tt^rerr^^^"^^-^"-"— 'e 

■Wi<rf  the gaUant  Yankee  ship 
That  flew  the  Stripes  and  Stars. 
And  Uje  whistling  wind  from  the  west  norVest 

With  her  starboard  tacks  aboard,  my  boys. 
She  hung  upon  the  gale.  ^ 

m  fT  n^T"  "«'"  ""  '«»«!  the  light 
OfftheOldHeadofKinsale. 

Rtiful  as  was  the  situation  of  Nantucket  with 
>^  only  mdustry  wiped  out  and  two  hundr^  ^ 
ows  among  the  eight  hundred  families  left  on 
the  island  the  aftermath  of  war  seemed  almo  t  as 
nmious  along  the  whole  Atlantic  coast  mI" 
sh.ps  could  be  built  and  there  were  thou^^an^: 
adventurous  sailors  to  man  them,  but  where  we" 


I 


OUT  CUTLASEs  AND  BOARD,  4, 

the  markets  for  the  products  of  th.  t 

foreigners.   Assn.htK        ^*"'*'^-«»»nt'y'nen  but 
nation  Acts  tnd  !„      '  """  ""'^"•"^  *°  «>«  ^avi- 

^■n..o.ui::t--n:s:riLT^"^* 

trade  with  the  West  TnJ-  ^heflounshmg 

aunmg  at  one  fell  stroke  to  "n,  t  '"' 

I'uJdin.andincreasetlL^l^:^,-^^^^ 

-Its  wer^  api^^^^p^i^'^/^'-'vesthe 
died  of  starvation  biuse^  a  "*"''  ''*"'" 
were  compelled  to  cer^^bnW  ^^^  *"^''" 

-^eon.dunng.r:i"s^;:'"'^'* 

were  destroyed  by  hurricanes  ^  ""^^ 

toorderinwtrbrrei::?""^'*-''""* 

and  wages  were  lower  it"^^        .    '  ""^  '^'"'P^ 
killed  byalawwhSden^^';:7;''^"r- was 

^e«e  of  purchasing  shipsr^rtry^r 


m 


48         THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 

So  narrow  and  bitter  was  this  commercial  enmity, 
so  ardent  this  desire  to  banish  the  Stars  and  Stripes 
from  blue  water,  that  Lord  She£Seld  in  1784  ad- 
vised Parliament  that  the  pirates  of  Algiers  and 
Tripoli  really  benefited  English  commerce  by  prey- 
ing on  the  shipping  of  weaker  nations.  "It  is  not 
probable  that  the  American  States  will  have  a 
very  free  trade  in  the  Mediterranean,"  said  he. 
"It  will  not  be  *o  the  interest  of  any  of  the  great 
maritime  Powers  to  protect  them  from  the  Bar- 
bary  States.  If  they  know  their  interests,  they 
will  not  encourage  the  Americans  to  be  carriers. 
That  the  Barbary  States  are  advantageous  to 
maritime  Powers  is  certain." 

Denied  the  normal  ebb  and  flow  of  trade  and 
commerce  and  with  the  imports  from  England  far 
exceeding  the  value  of  the  merchandise  exported 
thence,  the  United  States,  already  impoverished, 
was  drained  of  its  money,  and  a  currency  of  dollars, 
guineas,  joes,  and  moidores  grew  scarcer  day  by 
day.  There  was  no  help  in  a  government  which 
consisted  of  States  united  only  in  name.  Congress 
comprised  a  handful  of  respectable  gentlemen  who 
had  little  power  and  less  responsibility,  quarreling 
among  themselves  for  lack  of  better  employment. 
Retaliation  against  England  by  means  of  legislation 


'0 


n 


I 


bu  luiron  mid  JMitor  was  tljis  «.nim.Tfi«l  enmity, 


"iilriit  this  (IraiVc  to  liUHi  K 
If  wH*«r.  ill  t 
■  i-c)  I'urli.-inienl  thai 
i  ripo.'i  rc.illy  bfm-ti!.   ' 
rnfi  on  'iic  .shippiii;- 


'•"'  'ind Stripes 
.<.  AlgicRt  and 

iii'f  <•  In  :.r!rv. 


■ttlMUll'UfU.  , 

'■    ■ '  •  ^'  '  '  ^"i;y 

'.Mil  aoi  Lituuraiji!  the  AiiiencAiia  w  be  cwri«rs. 
That  the  JBarbary  Slat*-s  ur.!  j><ni)nii>n..,„ri:  i,. 
maritime  Powers  is  (''rtain." 

Denied  Qie  uonnal  ebb  and  llow  of  Lnulc  nHil 
"lin.uuerce  anri  -ri'h  Mir  irjThirl?  f-oi.i  Eiiitlatiii  far 

th«n«-,  tif-  .,  Hiu.-u  niai--y.  .iiu  -..ly  liiipvivtniihed, 
was  drained  trf  its  aioney.  and  a  (.-mreney  of  Hniiar^ 
RJiineas,  joes,  mui  uMiiiiores  grew  scan- 
day.    There  wa«  tw  help  in  a  governniom  m  ; 
consisted  of  Stat«  timted  only  in  mmc.    Con*,', 
lomprisedahi'  ~i)ectabie  gt  ntlemen  who 

lia.i  !itt!<-  ni>"  ■  ;  ■■i'At:!,.'i,i!.i!;ti-_  rfi,;,..?!.!;,,.. 

I'-.fiK  1  ,  ,,■  I, 


I  'l.l 


k1^^^ 


m 


OUT  CUTLASE8  AND  BOAHDl  49 

w«  utterly  impowible.  E«A  SUte  looked  iJter 
f  «>"'««'-«  in  it.  own  pecuJiT  („hion  a^d  the 
d-.l  a..ght  Uke  the  hindu>o.t.    Their  rivalries  .cd 

one  bUte  .hould  cIo.e  her  porU  to  Eng«.h  suip. 
^.  other,  would  welcome  them  i„  onler  to  d.v^ 
tie  trade,  w.th  no  f«,h„g  of  national  pride  or 
federal  coaperation. 

The  Article,  of  ConfederaUon  h«i  empowered 
Congre..  to  make  treafe.  of  commerce,  but  only 
sach  as  did  not  restrain  the  legislative  power  of 
any  hUte  from  laying  impost,  and  regulating  ex- 
port.  and  .mport..     If  a  fo«ig„  power  imposed 
heavy  duue.  upon  American  d.ippmg,,t  w^for 
the  md.v.d«al  S'.te.  and  not  for  Congre»  to  «y 
whel^er  the  ve«el.  of  the  offending  nation  .houU 
be  allowed  free  entrance  to  the  port,  of  the  United 
Stat^.    It  wa.  folly  to  suppose,  ran  the  common 
opmion.  that  if  South  Carolina  should  bar  her 
ports  to  Spain  becau«,  rice  and  indigo  were  ex- 
cluded from  the  Spanish  colonies.  New  Hampshire 
which  furnished  masts  and  lumber  for  the  Spanish 
Navy  ought  to  do  the  same.    The  idea  of  turning 
the  whole  «,atter  over  to  Congress  was  considered 
preposterous  by  many  intelligent  Americans 
In  these  thirteen  States  were  nearly  three  and  a 


m 


so         TBE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 
quarter  million  people  hemmed  in  a  long  and  nar- 
row  stop  between  the  «a  and  an  unexplored  wilder- 
ness  m  which  thelndians  werean  ever  present  peril. 
The  Southern  States,  including  Maryland,  prosper- 
ous agricultural  regions,  contained  ahnost  one-half 
the  English-speaking  population  of  America.     As 
colonies,  they  had  found  the  Old  Worid  eager  for 
their  rice,  tobacco,  indigo,  and  tar.  and  slavery 
was  the  means  of  labor  so  firmly  established  that 
one-fifth  of  the  inhabitants  were  black.    By  con- 
trast, the  Northern  States  were  still  concern^ 
with  commerce  as  the  very  lifeblood  of  their  ex- 
istence.    New  England  had  not  dreamed  of  the 
inillics  of  spindles  which  should  hum  on  the  baiiks 
of  her  rivers  and  lure  her  young  men  and  women 
from  the  farms  to  the  clamorous  factory  towns. 
The  city  of  New  York  had  not  yet  outgrown  its 
traffic  ,n  furs  and  its  magnificent  commercial  des- 
tiny was  still  unrevealed.   It  was  a  considerable  sea- 
port but  not  yet  a  gateway.    From  Sandy  Hook 
however,  to  the  stormy  headlands  of  Maine   it 
was  a  niatter  of  life  and  death  that  ships  should 
freely  come  and  go  with  cargoes  to  exchange.    All 
other  resources  werj  trifling  in  comparison. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THB   PAMOUS   DAYS   OF   SALEM   POST 

In  such  compelling  circumstances  as  these,  neces- 
sity  became  the  mother  of  achievement.    There  is 
nothing  finer  in  American  history  than  the  dogged 
fortitude  and  high-hearted  endeavor  with  which 
the  merchant  seamen  returned  to  their  work  after 
the  Revolution  and  sought  and  found  new  markets 
for  then-  wares.    It  was  then  that  Salem  played 
that  conspicuous  part  which  wa^,  for  a  generation 
to  overshadow  the  activities  of  all  other  American 
seaporfa.    Six  thousand  privateersmen  had  signed 
articles  in  her  taverns,  as  many  as  the  total  popula- 
tion of  the  town,  and  they  fil'ed  it  with  a  spirit  of 
enterprise  and  daring.    Not  for  them  the  stupid 
monotony  of  voyages  coastwise  if  more  hazardous 
ventures  beckoned  and  there  were  havens  and  is- 
lands unvexed  by  trade  where  bold  men  might  win 
profit  and  perhaps  fight  for  life  and  cargo. 
Now  there  dwelt  in  Salem  one  of  the  great  men 


M         THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 
of  his  time,  Elias  Basket  Derby,  the  fi«t  American 
in.lhona.re.  and  very  much  more  than  this     He 
was  a  shipping  merchant  with  a  vision  and  with 
the  hard-headed  sagacity  to  make  his  dreams  come 
to.e.    H,s  was  a  notable  seafaring  family,  to  begin 
w.th     H.S  father.  Captain  Richard  Derby.  boVn 
m  1712.  had  dispatched  his  small  vessels  to  the 
West  Ind.es  and  Virginia  and  with  the  returns 
from  these  voyages  he  had  loaded  assorted  cargoes 
for  Spam  and  Madeira  and  had  the  proceeds  re- 
n..tt«l  m  bills  of  exchange  to  London  or  in  wine 
.alt  fru.t  oil,  lead,  and  handkerchiefs  to  America. 
Richard  Derby's  vessels  had  eluded  or  banged 
away  at  the  privat^rs  during  the  French  War  from 
1756  to  1763,  mounting  from  eight  to  twelve  guns 
w.th  four  cannon  below  decks  for  close  quarters  " 
Of  such  a  temper  was  this  old  sea-dog  who  led  the 
m.l.t.a  and  defiantly  halted  General  Gage's  regu- 
lars at  the  North  River  bridge  in  Salem,  two  full 
months  before  the  skirmish  at  Lexington.    Eight 
o.  the  nineteen  cannon  which  ft  was  proposed 
to  seize  from  the  patriots  had  been  taken  from 
the  sh.ps  of  Captain  Richard  Derby  and  stored 
m  h.s  warehouse  for  the  use  of  the  Provincial 
Congress. 

It  was  Richard's  son.  Ca{,*.ain  John  Derby,  who 


n 


THE  FAMOUS  DAYS  OF  SALEM  PORT  as 
earned  to  England  in  the  swift  schooner  Quero  the 
fet  news  of  the  affair  at  Lexington,  ahead  of  the 
Kings  messenger.  A  sensational  arrival,  if  ever 
there  was  one!  This  Salem  shipmaster,  cracking 
on  sa.1  hke  a  proper  son  of  his  sire,  making  the 
passage   m   twenty-nine   days   and   handsomely 

which  Irft  Boston  four  days  sooner,  and  startl^ 
^e  Bntish  nation  with  the  tidings  which  mean! 
the  loss  of  an  American  empire!  A  singular  coin- 
CKlence  was  that  this  same  Captain  John  Derby 
should  have  been  the  first  mariner  to  inform  the 

United  States  that  peace  had  come,  when  he 
arrived  from  France  in  1783  with  the  message  that 
a  treaty  had  been  signed. 
Elias  Basket  Derby  was  another  son  of  Richard 
-:en  his  manifold  energies  were  crippled  bv  the 
V       he  diverted  his  ability  and  abundant  reso'urces 
mto  pnvateering.    He  was  interested  in  at  least 
e«hty  of  the  privateers  out  of  Salem,  invariably 
subscribmg  for  such  shares  .^  might  not  be  taken 
up  by  his  fellow-townsmen.     He  soon  perceived 
that  many  of  these  craft  were  wretehedly  unfit  for 
the  purpose  and  were  easily  captured  or  wrecked 
It  was  characteristic  of  his  genius  that  he  should 
establish  shipyards  of  his  own.  turn  his  attention 


Si  THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 
to  naval  architecture,  and  begin  to  build  a  class  of 
vessels  vastly  superior  in  size,  model,  and  speed 
to  any  previously  launched  in  the  colonies.  They 
were  designed  to  meet  the  small  cruiser  of  the 
British  Navy  on  even  terms  and  were  remarkably 
successful,  both  in  enriching  their  owner  and  in 
defying  the  enemy. 

At  the  end  of  the  war  Elias  Basket  Derby  dis- 
covered that  these  fine  ships  were  too  large  and 
costly  to  ply  up  and  down  the  coast.    Instead  of 
bewailing  his  hard  lot,  he  resolved  to  send  them  to 
the  other  side  of  the  globe.    At  a  time  when  the 
British  and  the  Dutch  East  India  companies  in- 
solenUy  claimed  a  monopoly  of  the  trade  of  the 
Orient,   when  American   merchant   seamen  had 
never  ventured  beyond  the  two  Atlantics,  this  was  . 
a  conception  which  made  of  commerce  a  surpass- 
ing romance  and  heralded  the  golden  era  of  the 
nation's  life  upon  the  sea. 

His  Grand  Turk  of  three  hundred  tons  was 
promptly  fitted  out  for  a  pioneering  voyage  as  far 
as  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  Salem  knew  her  as 
"the  great  ship"  and  yet  her  hull  was  not  quite 
one  hundred  feet  long.  Safely  Captain  Jonathan 
Ingersoll  took  her  out  over  the  long  road,  his  navi- 
gating equipment  consisting  of  a  few  erroneous 


THE  FAMOUS  DAYS  OF  SALKM  PORT    M 
maps  and  charts,  a  sextant,  and  Guthrie's  Geo- 
graphical Grammar.    In  Tabl-    --;    be  sold  his 
cargo  of  provisions  and  then  visited  the  coast  of 
Gmn«i  to  dispose  of  his  rum  for  ivoiy  and  gold- 
dust  but  brought  not  a  single  slave  back,  Mr 
Derby  having  declared  that  "he  would  rather 
«nk  the  whole  capital  employed  than  directly  or 
mdirectly  be  concerned  in  so  infamous  a  trade  "  — 
an  unusual  point  of  view  for  a  shipping  merchant 
of  New  England  in  1784! 

-Derby  ships  were  first  to  go  to  Mauritius,  then 
called  the  Isle  of  France,  first  at  Calcutta,  and 
among  the  earliest  to  swing  at  anchor  off  Canton 
When  Elias  Hasket  Derby  decided  to  invade  this 
nch  EMt  India  commerce,  he  sent  his  eldest  son. 
.  Ehas  Hasket,  Jr.,  to  England  a«d  the  Continent 
aftera  course  at  Harvard.   Theyoung  man  became 
a  hnguist  and  made  a  thorough  study  of  English 
and  French  methods  of  trade.    Having  laid  this 
foundation  for  the  venture,  the  son  was  now  sent 
to  India,  where  he  lived  for  three  years  in  the  in- 
terests of  his  house,  building  up  a  trade  almost 
fabulously  profitable. 

How  fortunes  were  won  in  those  stirring  days 
may  be  discerned  from  the  record  of  young  Derby's 
ventures  while  in  the  Orient.    In  1788  the  proceeds 


^m  .a        , 


*..*■■ 


THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 
of  one  cargo  enabled  him  to  buy  a  ship  and  a 
bngantine  in  the  Isle  of  Prance.  These  two  vessels 
he  sent  to  Bombay  to  load  with  cotton.  Two  other 
Alps  of  his  fleet,  the  Astrea  and  Light  Horse,  were 
filled  at  Calcutta  and  Rangoon  and  oidered  to 
Salem.  It  was  found,  when  the  profits  of  these 
transactions  were  reckoned,  that  the  little  squad- 
ron had  earned  $100,000  above  all  outlay. 

To  carry  on  such  a  business  as  this  enlisted 
many  men  and  industries.    While  the  larger  ships 
were  making  their  distant  voyages,  the  brigs  and 
schooners  were  gathering  cargoes  for  them,  cross- 
ing to  Gothenburg  and  St.  Petersburg  for  iron 
duck,  and  hemp,  to  France,  Spain,  and  Madeira 
for  wme  and  lead,  to  the  French  West  Indies  for 
molasses  to  be  turned  into  rum,  to  New  York 
Philadelphia,  and  Richmond  for  flour,  provisions,' 
and  tobacco.    These  shipments  were  assembled  in 
the  warehouses  on  Derby  Wharf  and  paid  for  the 
teas,  coffees,  pepper,  muslin,  silks,  and  ivory  which 
the  ships  from  the  Far  East  were  fetching  home 
In  fourteen  years  the  Derby  ships  made  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-five  voyages  to  Europe  and  far 
eastern  ports  and  out  of  the  thirty-five  vessels  en- 
gaged only  one  was  lost  at  sea. 
It  was  in  1786  when  the  Grand  Turk,  on  a  second 


fS*  SBIP'OSAXD  TORK" 


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THE  FAMOUS  DAYS  OP  SALEM  PORT  37 
voyage,  brought  back  a  caigo  of  .ilk.,  tea.,  and 
nankeen,  from  BaUvia  and  China,  that  The 
Indepevdma  ChronieU  of  London.  uncon«;iou.ly 
humorou.,  w«i  moved  to  affirm  that  "the  Ameri- 
can, have  given  up  all  thought  of  a  China  trade 
which  can  never  be  carried  on  to  advantage  with- 
out wme  wttlement  in  the  East  Indies." 

A.  won  a.  thew  new  .ea-trails  had  been  fur- 
rowed by  the  keeU  of  Elias  Basket  Derby,  other 
Salem  merchants  were  quick  to  follow  in  a  rivalry 
which  left  no  sea  unexplored  for  virgin  market, 
md  which  ransacked  every  nook  and  comer  of 
barbari.m  which  had  a  shore.    Vessels  slipped  their 
cable,  and  .ailed  away  by  night  for  some  secret 
destmation  with  whose  s&vage  potentate  trade 
relations  had  been  established.    It  might  be  Cap- 
tain Jonathan  Came,  who,  while  at  the  port  of 
Bencoolen  in  1798,  heard  that  pepper  grew  wild 
on  the  northern  coast  of  Sumatra.    He  whispered 
the  word  to  the  Salem  owner,  who  sent  him  back 
in  the  «:hooner  Rajah  with  only  four  guns  and 
ten  men.   Eighteen  months  later,  Jonathan  Cames 
returned  to  Salem  with  a  cargo  of  pepper  in  bulk, 
the  first  direct   importation,  and  cleared  seven 
hundred  per  cent  on  the  voyage.    When  he  made 
ready  to  go  again,  keeping  his  business  strictly 


MICaOCOPY    lESOlUTION    TEST    CHADT 

(»NSI  oiKJ  IW  TEST  CHART  No.  2) 


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«  THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 

to  himself,  other  owners  tracked  him  clear  to  Ben- 
coolen,  but  there  he  vanished  in  the  Rcjah.  and  his 
secret  with  him,  until  he  reappeared  with  another 
precious  cargo  of  pepper.  When,  at  length,  he 
shared  this  trade  with  other  vessels,  it  meant  that 
Salem  controlled  the  pepper  market  of  Sumatra 
and  for  many  years  supplied  a  large  part  of  the 
world  s  demand. 

And  so  it  happened  that  in  the  spicy  warehouses 
that  overlooked  Salem  Harbor  there  came  to  be 
stored  hemp  from  Luzon,  gum  copal  from  Zanzibar, 
palm  od  from  Africa,  coffee  from  Arabia,  tallow 
from  Madagascar,  whale  oil  from  the  Antarctic, 
h.des  and  wool  from  the  Rio  de  la  Plata,  nut- 
meg and  cloves  from  Malaysia.    Such  merchandise 
had  been  bought  or  bartered  for  by  shipmasters 
who  were  much  more  than  mere  navigators.    They 
had  to  be  shrewd  merchants  on  their  own  accounts, 
for  the  success  or  failure  of  a  voyage  was  mostly  in 
their  hands.    Carefully  trained  and  highly  intelli- 
gent  men,  they  attained  command  in  the  early 
twenties  and  were  able  to  retire,  after  a  few  years 
more  afloat,  to  own  ships  and  exchange  the  quarter- 
deck for  the  counting-room,  and  the  cabin  for  the 
solid  mansion  and  lawn  on  Derby  Street.    Every 
opportunity,  indeed,  was  offered  them  to  advance 


THE  FAMOUS  DAYS  OF  SALEM  PORT  59 
their  own  fortunes.  They  sailed  not  for  wages  but 
for  handsome  commissions  and  nrivileges  —  in 
the  Derby  ships,  five  per  cent  of  a  cargo  outward 
bound,  two  and  a  half  per  cent  of  the  freightage 
home,  five  per  cent  profit  on  goods  bought  and 
sold  between  foreign  ports,  and  five  per  cent  of 
the  cargo  space  for  their  own  use. 

Such  was  the  system  which  persuaded  the  pick 
and  flower  of  young  American  manhood  to  choose 
the  sea  as  the  most  advantageous  career  possible 
There  was  the  Crowninshield  family,  for  example 
with  five  brothers  all  in  command  of  ships  before 
they  were  old  enough  to  vote  and  at  one  time  all 
five  away  from  Salem,  each  in  his  own  vessel  and 
three  of  them  in  the  East  India  trade.     "When 
httle  boys,"  to  quote  from  the  nemoirs  of  Ben- 
jamin Crowninshield.  "they  were  all  sent  to  a 
common  school  and  about  their  eleventh  year 
began  their  first  particular  study  which  should 
develop  them  as  sailors  and  ship  captains.    These 
boys  studied  their  navigation  as  little  chaps  of 
twelve  years  old  and  were  required  to  thoroughly 
master  the  subject  before  being  sent  to  sea.  .  .  . 
As  soon  as  the  art  of  navigation  was  mastered, 
the  youngsters  were  sent  to  sea.  sometimes  as' 
common  sailors  but  commonly  as  ship's  clerks,  in 


«»         THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 

bright  W  who  entered  by  way  of  thi  t  ^ 

ako  played  for  high  stakes    Z  "*'""" 

berth  nf  n,  t     u  ^^"  promoted  to  the 

S  to  b  fr  ''^  ^°""'  °'  '^^'y-one  is 

,7  to  be  a  college  undergraduate,  rated  tn„ 
ca  o.  «„a  unfi.  t,  be  intrusted  w,th  C^^ 
busmess  responsibilities  and  tolerantly  reg^J 
-  unable  to  take  care  of  himself.  It  Z^^ 
bothasmJeandaglowof  pride,  therefor.  toS 
those  seasoned  striplings  and  what  they  did 

bee,  later  United  States  Senator  from  Massa 
chusetts.  who  took  command  of  the  new  Z 
Ben„  in  the  year  1792.  laden  with  I  eoSy 

i"dia,     with  such  mstructions,"  says  he.  "as  left 
^e  management  of  the  voyage  very  much  S 

«ate.  Mr.  Char  es  Derby,  had  attained  the  agTof 


THE  FAMOUS  DAYS  OF  SALEM  PORT    61 

then  twenty."  Th«  reminded  him  to  speak  of  his 
own  famjy.  of  the  three  Silsbee  brotEs.  "ea^L 
of  us  obUuned  the  command  of  vessels  and  the  con- 
«nt  of  their  cargoes  before  attaining  the  age 

a  half,  and  my  brother  Zachariah  before  he  wa. 
twenty  years  old.  Each  and  all  of  us  left  off  go- 
mg  to  sea  before  reaching  tj.e  age  of  twentyX 

How  r^urcefully  these  children  of  the  sea  could 
handle  affairs  was  shown  in  this  voyage  of  the 

Jrrr;.  -^^  ^  *'"'   ^^'«'>  ocean  young 
S  Isbee  fell  m  with  a  frigate  which  gave  him  n^ 

France     He  shifted  his  course  for  Mauritius  and 

dolkrs.  which  he  turned  into  Spanish  silver.  An 
embargo  detained  him  for  six  months,  during 
which  tuis  currency  increased  to  three  times  the 
value  of  the  paper  money.  He  gave  up  the  vovage 
to  Calcutta,  sold  the  Spanish  dollars  and  lo;d«l 
with  coffee  and  spices  for  Salem.  At  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  however,  he  discovered  that  he  could 
earn  a  pretty  penny  by  sending  his  cargo  home  in 


i- 


t 


a*  THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 

other  ships  and  loading  the  Benjamin  again  for 
Mauritius.  When,  at  length,  he  arrived  in  Salem 
harbor,  after  nineteen  months  away,  his  enter- 
prises had  reaped  a  hundred  per  cent  for  Elias 
Basket  Derby  and  his  own  share  was  the  snug  little 
fortune  of  four  thousand  dollars.  Part  of  this  he, 
of  course,  invested  at  sea,  and  at  twenty-two  he 
was  part  owner  of  the  Betsy,  East  Indiaman,  and 
on  the  road  to  independence. 

As  second  mate  in  the  Benjamin  had  sailed 
Richard  Cleveland,  another  matured  mariner  of 
nineteen,  who  crowded  into  one  life  an  Odyssey  of 
adventure  noteworthy  even  in  that  era  and  who 
had  the  knack  of  writing  about  it  with  rare  skill 
and  spirit.    In  1797.  when  twenty-three  years  old. 
he  was  master  of  the  bark  Enterprise  bound  from 
Salem  to  Mocha  for  coffee.    The  voyage  was  aban- 
doned at  Havre  and  he  sent  the  mate  home  with 
the  ship,  deciding  to  remain  abroad  and  gamble 
for  himself  with  the  chances  of  the  sea.    In  France 
he  bought  on  credit  a  "cutter-sloop"  of  forty- 
three  tons,  no  larger  than  the  yachts  whose  owners 
think  it  venturesome  to  take  them  off  soundings 
in  summer  cruises.    In  this  little  box  of  a  craft 
he  planned  to  carry  a  cargo  of  merchandise  to  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope  and  thence  to  Mauritius. 


m 


-TCE  FAMOUS  DAYS  OF  SALEM  PORT    63 

H«  crew  included  two  men.  a  black  cook,  and  a 

brace  of  boys  who  were  haatily  shipped  at  H.^ 

Fortunately  they  were  all  so  n.„ch  in  debt  ^.^t 

to  want  any  t,me  to  spend  their  advance,  but  were 

eady  at  the  instant,  and  with  this  moUey  cIT 

(who    or  aught  I  knew,  were  robbers  or  pirZ' 

I  put  to  sea."    The  only  sailor  of  the  lot  wta 

Nan  ucket  lad  who  was  n,ade  mate  and  had  to  be 

St     .1  ""r"*^  "'  '"'^'■«''*-  -'""^  «t  -1 

W  the  others  he  had  this  to  say.  in  his  light- 
hearted  manner:  " 

The  first  of  my  foremast  hands  is  a  great.  «,.rfv  ^.uu^ 

«Ulor.  though  he  has  ofte„^,u^  Itb^t'i  ""tl" 
a  Wswain's  .ate  „,  a  DutSd^Lt  tlth  TZ 

a"ixrr^^"':^'^^r^--rr^ 

ptLtTsrretts2ht3 
^nsXt;^ri!tu:i:£Sj/^ 

ItUiSoss'lSetoterhr.'a^Xgr;'"^^^^^^^^ 

hajjly  tell  the  .ain-halliards  f^.  Kij^tay     ""^ 

Next  .s  an  Engbsh  boy  of  «=venteen  years  oW,  who 


"        raEOlDMEBCBAOTMiRINE 

of  a  baboon,  who  from  hlvinr^rv^"^"  """y"^ 
diffe^nt  privateers  ha,  Sf  w^oU  ^l""'  "^ 
of-war-s  man.  though  only  thirteen  yei^^M  "  hI" " 
havmg  been  in  an  English  nr.  JT  i.      i  '  *"''  ^y 

of  the  language  to  be  fSfiS^X     -°"«- 

With  these  human  scrapings  for  a  ship's  com- 
pany, the  cutter  Caroline  was  three  mL^. 
;r  -"r -^  -  '-  as  the  Ca  e  ^gToXT 
where  the  .nhabitants  "could  not  disguise  ^ 
^to„.shm..„t  at  the  size  of  the  vessel.  The  b^ 
appearance  of  the  master  and  mate,  and  the  ^r 
and  unique  character  of  the  two  men  and  boy  X 

<x.mposedthecrew."TheE„glish  officials  thought 
atstrange.ndeed.suspectingsomeschemeofF«n^ 
spies  or  smuggled  dispatches,  but  Richard  0^7 

knd  s  petition  to  the  Governor.  Lord  McCaSi; 
^gen„ouslypattemedaftercerta,nIette«addressi 
to  noblemen  as  found  in  an  old  magazine  aboaS 
his  vessel,  won  the  day  for  him  and  he  ^aHT 
fitted  to  se„  the  cutter  and  her  ca^o.TaS; 
changed  h,s  mind  about  p«„,eeding  farther.  * 
Takmg  passage  to  BaUvia.  he  looked  about  for 
another  venture  but  found  nothing  to  his  liki„g 


HArBdMlMl  aiuuu 
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'.<!    3.1.111    .'I 


*! 


1  -*  ' 


/' 


THE  FAMOUS  DAYS  OF  SALEM  PORT    U 
and  wandered  on  to  Canton,  where  he  wu  .ttwct- 
«J  by  the  F-o.pect  of  a  voyage  to  the  northwe.t 
coa.t  of  America  to  buy  furs  from  the  Indian. 
In  a  cutter  no  larger  than  the  Caroline  he  risked 
•II  his  cash  and  credit,  stocking  her  with  «i0.000 
worth  of  assorted  merchandise  for  barter,  and  put 
out  across  the  Pacific,  "having  on  boanl  twenty- 
one  persons,  consisting,  except  two  Americans,  of 
English.  Irish.  Swede,  and  French,  but  principally 
the  first,  who  were  runaways  from  the  men-of-war 
and  Indiamen.  and  two  from  a  Botany  Bay  ship 
who  had  made  their  escape,  for  we  were  obliged  to 
take  such  as  we  could  get.  served  to  complete  a 
lu.t  of  as  accomplished  villain,  a.  ever  disgraced 
any  country." 

Alter  a  month  of  wea^r.  drenching  hardship  off 
^e  China  coast,  this  crew  of  cutthroats  mutinied. 
With  a  loyal  handful,  including  the  black  cook. 
Cleveland  locked  up  the  provisions,  mounted  two 
four-,K>unders  on  the  quarter-deck,  rammed  them 
full  of  grape-shot,  and  fetched  up  the  flint-lock 
muskets  and  pistols  from  the  cabin.  The  muti- 
neers were  then  informed  that  :f  they  poked  their 
heads  above  the  hatches  he  would  blow  them  over- 
board. Losing  enthusiasm  and  weakened  by  hun- 
ger, they  asked  to  be  set  ashore;  «,  the  ddpper 


^         THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 

marooned  the  lot.    For  two  days  the  cutter  lay  off- 
thatjourofther^^^^ 

Fifty  days  more  of  it  and,  washed  by  icy  seaa 

^Ik  Sound.  So  small  was  the  crew,  so  imminent 
the  danger  that  the  Indians  might  take  her  by 
boarding,  that  screens  of  hides  were  rigged  alon^ 

thebulwarkstohidethedeckfromview.Tri' 
and  gettmg  clear,  warding  off  attacks.  CaT^ 
B^hard  Cleveland  stayed  two  months  oT^ 
wJderness  coast  of  Oregon,  trading  one  musket  lor 
eight  pnme  sea-otter  skins  until  there  was  no  more 
room  below.    Sixty  thousand  dollars  was  the  valul 
o   the  venture  when  he  sailed  for  China  by  way 
of  the  Sandwich  Islands,  forty  thousand  of  pr2 
and  he  was  twenty-five  years  old  with  the  ^^ 
lor  roving  undiminished. 

He  next  appeared  in  Calcutta,  buying  a  twentv- 
five-ton  pilot  boat  under  the  DanlhflagTr  , 
flmg  at  Mauritius  and  a  speculation  ^^  Z^ 
brought  m  by  French  privateers.  Finding  nTn" 
»  port  he  loaded  seven  thousand  bags  of  cSL 
m  a  ship  for  Copenhagen  and  convey^as  a  paT 
senger  a  kindred  spirit,  young  Nathaniel  ShaW 


II 


THE  FAMOUS  DAYS  OF  SALEM  PORT  67 
whom  he  took  into  partnership.  At  Hamburg 
these  two  bought  a  fast  brig,  the  Lelia  Byrd,  to  try 
their  fortune  on  the  west  coast  of  South  America 
and  recruited  a  third  partner,  a  boyish  Polish 
nobleman.  Count  de  RousiUon,  who  had  been  an 
aide  to  Kosciusko.  Three  seafaring  musketeers, 
true  gentlemen  rovers,  all  under  thirty,  sailing 
cut  to  beard  the  viceroys  of  Spain! 

From  Valparaiso,  where  other  American  ships 
were  detained  and  robbed,  they  adroitly  escaped 
and  steered  north  to  Mexico  and  California.    At 
San  Diego  they  fought  their  way  out  of  the  harbor 
silencing  tl..  Spanish  fort  with  their  six  guns. 
Then  to  Canton  with  furs,  and  Richard  Cleveland 
went  home  at  thirty  years  of  age  after  seven  years- 
absence  and  voyaging  twice  around  the  world, 
having  wrested  success  from  aJmost  every  imagi- 
nable danger  and  obstacle,  with  $70,000  to  make 
him  a  rich  man  in  his  own  town.    He  was  neither 
more  nor  less  than  an  American  sailor  of  the  kind 
that  made  the  old  merchant  marine  magnificent. 
It  was  true  romance,  also,  when  the  first  Ameri- 
can shipmasters  set  foot  in  mysterious  Japan,  a 
half  century  before  Perry's  squadron  shattered 
the  nnmemorial  isolation  of  the  land  of  the  Sho- 
guns  and  the  Samurai.    Only  the  Dutch  had  been 


I  I. 


«8         THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 
permitted  to  hold  any  foreign  intercourse  whatever 
wiUi  th«  hermit  nation  and  for  two  centuries  they 
had  maintained  their  singular  commercial  mon- 
opoly at  a  price  measured  in  terms  of  the  deet^ 
est  degradation  of  dignity  and  respect.    The  few 
Dutch  merchants  suffered  to  reside  in  Japan  were 
restricted  to  a  small  idand  in  Nagasaki  harbor, 
leavmg  it  only  once  in  four  years  when  the  Resi- 
dent, or  chief  agent,  journeyed  to  Yeddo  to  offer 
gift„  and  most  humble  obeisance  to  the  Shogun 
creeping  forward  on  his  hands  and  feet,  and  falling 
on  his  knees,  bowed  his  head  to  the  ground,  and 
retired  again  in  absolute  silence,  crawling  exactly 
I*e  a  crab,    said  one  of  these  pilgrims  who  added: 
We  may  not  keep  Sundays  or  fast  days,  or  allow 
our  spintual  hymns  or  prayers  to  be  heard;  never 
mention  the  name  of  Christ.    Besides  these  things, 
we  have  to  submit  to  other  insulting  imputations 
which  are  always  painful  to  a  noble  heart     The 
rewon  which  impels  the  Dutch  to  bear  all  these 
suffermgs  so  patiently  is  simply  the  love  of  gain  " 
In  return  for  these  humiliations  the  Dutch  East 
India  Company  was  permitted  to  send  one  or  two 
ships  a  year  from  Batavia  to  Japan  and  to  export 
copper,  silk,  gold,  camphor,  porcelain,  bronze,  aiid 
rare  ^voods.    The  American  ^hip  Franklin  arrived 


THE  FAMOUS  DAYS  OF  SALEM  PORT    69 
at  Batavia  in  1799  and  CapUin  James  Devereux 
of  Salem  learned  that  a  charter  was  offered  for 
one  of  these  annual  voyages.    After  a  deal  of  Yan- 
kee dickering  with  the  hard-headed  Dutchmen, 
a   bargain  was   struck  and  the  Franklin  sailed 
for  Nagasaki  with  cloves,  chintz,  sugar,  tin,  black 
pepper,  sapan  wood,  and  elephants'  teeth.    The  in- 
structions were  elaborate  and  punctilious,  salutes 
to  be  fired  right  and  left,  nioe  guns  for  the  Em- 
peror's guard  while  passing  in,  thirteen  guns  at 
the  anchorage;  all  books  on  board  to  be  sealed  up 
in  a  cask.  Bibles  in  particular,  and  turned  over  to 
the  Japanese  officials,  all  firearms  sent  ashore,  ship 
dressed  with  colors  whenever  the  "Commissaries 
of  the  Chief  "  graciously  came  aboard,  and  a  carpet 
on  deck  for  them  to  sit  upon. 

Two  years  later,  the  Margaret  of  Salem  made 
the  same  sort  of  a  voyage,  and  in  both  instances 
the  supercargoes,  one  of  whom  happened  to  be 
a  younger  brother  of  Captain  Richard  Cleveland, 
wrote  journals  of  the  extraordinary  episode.  For 
these  mariners  alone  was  the  curtain  lifted  which 
concealed  the  feudal  Japan  from  the  eyes  of  the 
civilized  world.  Alert  and  curious,  these  Yankee 
traders  explored  the  narrow  streets  of  Nagasaki, 
visited  temples,  were  handsomely  entertained  by 


* 


70  THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 

officers  and  n^erchanU,  and  exchanged  their  wares 
.n  the  market-place.  They  were  a.  „.„ch  at  hon^r 
no  doubt,  as  when  buying  picuk  of  pepper  from  a 
-^h  of  Qualah  Battoo.  or  dining  .'Zn  Sy 
«ann„fCochinChina.  It  was  not  too  n.„  hto' 
bveve  J''?'"°'"^^^^'-''^l-°wIedgebrought 
byevery.h.p>screw.together  with  unheard  of  curi- 

os.t,esf^„,eveo.3avageshore,gavethecon,n,unTy 
of  Salem  a  rare  alertness  of  intellect  " 

It  was  a  Salem  bark,  the  I^dia.  tiat  first  dis- 

Playe    th    American  flag  to  the  natives  of  Guam 

»  1801     She  wa^  chartered  by  the  Spanish  govem- 

cd W,  the  new  Governor,  his  family,  his  suite,  and 
h^^luggage.  Fi„t  Mate  William  Haswell  kjpt  a 
dimy  «  a  most  conscientious  fashion,  and  here 
and  the.  one  glean,  an  item  With  a  humor  of  S 
s^ts  .."J"",'^""*  *°  P«-  through  <.ange„,„s 
s^a,J,  he  observes,  "we  went  to  work  to  make 
boardmg  nettings  and  to  get  our  anns  in  the  b^ 
order  but  had  we  been  attacked  we  should  have 

alUhrtr"'^^-  =^*--P-yandNeg: 
al  the  pa^engers  were  in  the  greatest  confuTn 
for  fear  of  bemg  taken  and  put  to  death  in  the  da^k 
and  not  have  time  to  say  their  prayers  " 


THE  FAMOUS  DAYS  OF  SALEM  PORT    71 
The  decks  were  in  confusion  most  of  the  time, 
what  with  the  Governor,  his  lady,  three  children, 
two  servant  girls  and  twelve  men  servants,  a  friar 
and  his  servant,  a  judge  and  two  servants,  not  to 
_;ention  some  small  hogs,  two  sheep,  an  ox,  and 
a  goat  to  feed  tht  passengers  who  were  too  dainty 
for  sea  provender.    The  friar  was  an  interesting 
character.    A  great  pity  that  the  worthy  mate  of 
the  Lydia  should  not  have  been  more  explicit!   It 
intrigues  the  reader  of  his  manuscript  diary  to  be 
told  that  "the  Friar  was  praying  night  and  day 
but  it  would  not  bring  a  fair  wind.    His  behavior 
was  so  bad  that  w«  were  forced  to  send  him  to 
Coventry,  or  in  other  words,  no  one  would  speak 
to  him." 

The  Spanish  governors  of  Guam  had  in  opera- 
tion an  economic  system  which  compelled  the 
admiration  of  this  thrifty  Yankee  mate.  The 
natives  wore  very  few  clothes,  he  concluded,  be- 
cause the  Governor  was  the  only  shopkeeper  and 
he  insisted  on  a  profit  of  at  least  eight  hundred 
per  cent.  There  v^^  a  native  militia  regiment  of 
a  thousand  men  who  were  paid  ten  dollars  a  year. 
With  this  cash  they  bought  Bengal  goods,  cottons, 
Chinese  pans,  pots,  knives,  and  hoes  at  the  Gover- 
nor's store,  so  that  "all  this  money  never  left  the 


«         THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 
Governor'a  handa.    It  .«  fetched  to  hte  by  the 

of  eighty  or  nmety  thousand  doIla«"    aTZL 
of  high  finance  without  a  flaw.  *      "** 

There  is  pathos,  simple  and  moving,  in  the 
stor,es  of  shipwreck  and  stranding  on  hosl  „ 
desert  coasts.    These  disasters  we^  ^r  l^f^ 

quentthenthannow.b«.ausenavigationwrraX 
guesswork  and   ships  were  very  small      a 

f^m  Boston  to  Bombay  in  1793.  The  captab  "ost 
^  beanngs  and  thought  he  was  off  Malabar  when 
the  sh.p  p,Ied  up  „„  the  beach  in  tb.  night  The 
nearest  port  was  Muscat  and  the  cre^  took'to  thl 
boats  in  the  hope  of  reaching  it.  StormTteat^t 
drove  them  ashore  where  armed  Arabs  on'Tmefc 
stripped  them  of  clothes  and  stores  and  leftTm 
to  die  among  the  sand  dunes 

tin?"  !  M  '^"'  *™''"^  '^"^  "^^^  '^'^y '-  the  direc- 
they  endured  was  told  by  one  of  ;  „ 
young  Daniel  Saunders.    Ln  ^  ZTr 
out  and  die  in  their  tracks  in  the  mannrof  -Br 
Barnard  whose  bodies  were  exposed  naked  toT 


THE  FAMOUS  DAYS  OF  SALEM  PORT    78 
scorching  sun  and  finding  their  strength  and  spir- 
its  quite  exhausted  they  lay  down  expecting  noth- 
iag  but  death  for  relief."    The  next  to  be  left 
behind  was  Mr.  Robert  Williams,  merchant  and 
part  owner,  "and  we  therefore  with  reluctance 
abandoned  him  co  the  mercy  of  God.  suffering 
ourselves  all  the  horrors  that  fill  the  mind  at  the 
approach  of  death."    Near  the  beach  and  a  for- 
lorn little  oasis,  thej   stumbled  across  Charles 
Lapham,  who  had  become  separated  from  them. 
He  had  been  without  water  for  five  days  "and 
after  many  efforts  he  got  upon  his  feet  and  endeav- 
ored to  walk.    Seeing  him  in  so  wretched  a  con- 
dition I  could  not  but  sympathize  enough  with 
him  in  his  torments  to  go  back  with  him"  toward 
water  two  miles  away,  "which  both  my  other 
companions   refused    to    do.     Accordingly   they 
walked  forward  while  I  went  back  a  consider- 
able distance  with   Lapham  until,  his  strength 
failing  him,  he  suddenly  fell  on  the  ground,  nor 
was  he  able  to  rise  again  or  even  speak  to  me. 
Finding  it  vain  to  stey  with  him,  I  covered  him 
with  sprays  and  leaves  which  I  tore  from  an  ad- 
jacent tree,  it  being  the  last  friendly  office  I  could 
do  him." 

Eight  living  skeletons  left  of  eighteen  strong 


^C 


W         THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 

by  the  Engl«h  consul.    Daniel  Saunders  worked 

h«  paswge  to  England,  was  picked  up  by  a  ;^ 
5^ng  escaped,  and  so  returned  to  Salen,     It  ^ 

S:  the  dt' J'"'  *'"  •""^^  -'^  '-  B- 
ton.  to  be  detained  among  the  Arabs  as  a  slave 

It  18  worth  noting  that  a  black  sea  cn„I.  «        7' 

many  of  these  tale,  of  ^.^^^11^^^ 

--Peter  Jackson  who  belonged  in  the  brigX^ 
A.ong.ethin:t^^^^ 

o^ofitrthT^Sc^r^r^Lri 

pomtecl  for  his  goods  and  chattels  andlTwI 
officialy  deceased  in  the  eyes  of  the  law    A M^ 

-Carr:;d"f:rhiitr"^°^- 

ghostly  visitation.    He  hTs^,.    7"  ""  ' 
„-  u-       ..  ,  ""  floated  twelve  hoiip« 

on  h,s  sa.l.bc  ,..  it  seemed,  fighting  off  the  shar^ 


THE  FAMOUS  DAYS  OP  SALEM  PORT  7S 
with  his  feet,  and  finally  drifting  ashore.  "  He  had 
hard  work  to  do  away  with  the  impresgiona  of 
being  dead. "  runs  the  old  account,  "but  succeeded 
and  was  allowed  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the 
living." 

The  community  of  interests  in  these  voyages  of 
long  ago  included  not  only  the  ship's  company  but 
also  the  townspeople,  even  the  boys  and  giris,  who 
entrusted  their  little  private  speculations  or  "ad- 
ventures" to  the  captain.    It  was  a  custom  which 
flourished  well  into  the  nineteenth  century.    These 
memoranda  are  sprinkled  through  the  account 
books  of  the  East  Indiamen  out  of  Salem  and 
Boston.    It  might  be  Miss  Harriet  Elkins  who 
requested  the  master  of  the  Mettenger  "please  to 
purchase  at  Calcutta  two  net  beads  with  draper- 
ies; if  at  Batavia  or  any  spice  market,  nutmegs 
or  mace;  or  if  at  Canton,  two  Canton  shawls  of 
the  enclosed  colors  at  96  per  shawl.    Enclosed 
is  $10." 

Again,  it  might  be  Mr.  John  R.  Tucker  who 
ventured  in  the  same  ship  one  hundred  Spanish 
dollars  to  be  invested  in  coffee  and  sugar,  or  Cap- 
tain Nathaniel  West  who  risked  in  the  Astrea 
fifteen  boxes  of  spermaceti  candles  and  a  pipe  of 
Teneriffe  wine.    It  is  interesting  to  discover  what 


t- 


"         ""»■•■>  MERCHANT  MAIMNE 

extra  expenses  of  dutv    hJtu-  '  **" 

•"in..n.thet„ta,o:t^^7»1'^'' 
was  so  d  at  Antwem  „„  .u  "*  *»*«» 

and  Mr.  Tuckt"T«rd  '^ '""^ '"' ««'-^'. 

ture  was  So.:  a^^t""  ""'^  ""  "'''  '^-»- 
dred  per  cent.  '  "  •""'^  ^"  °»«  hun- 

-«w4:rerrsra:drtr-  ^ 

vanish  from  his  !,«„  *  ''®'  °"'  *<> 

lui  ner  signal  was  disp  ayed  bv  fK.  «  » 
tenng  flags  „f  the  headland  station  at  t  J 
bor  n,o„th  could  he  know  wheth  ^e  1^!     t!." 
»'   lost   a   fortune.      The   snirit  '  7       u*     "^ 
chants  was  '^drair.l.fytl,Z^^.''l  ^''^  -- 

cia   war  existpH  w  .  '  '^''™  "O"®- 

France  ''"**"  ^^'^  U'"*«'  States  and 


i 


THE  FAMOUS  DAYS  OF  SALEM  POUT    77 
American  ships  were  everywhere  leeking  refuge 
from  the  privateer,  under  the  tricolor,  which  fairly 
ran  amuck  in  the  routes  of  trade.    For  this  reason 
It  meant  a  rich  reward  to  land  acargo  abroad.    The 
ahip  Mount  Vernon,  commanded  by  CapUin  Ehas 
Basket  Derby.  Jr..  was  laden  with  sugar  and  coffee 
for  Mediterranean  porU.  and  was  prepared  for  trou- 
ble, with  twenty  guns  mounted  and  fifty  men  to 
handle  them.   A  smart  ship  and  a  powerful  one.  she 
raced  across  to  Cape  Saint  Vincent  in  sixteen  days 
which  was  clipper  speed.  She  ran  into  a  French  fleet 
of  sixty  sail,  exchanged  broadsides  with  the  nearest, 
and  showed  her  stern  to  the  others. 

We  arrived  .t  12  o'clock  [wrote  CapUin  Derby  from 
Gibraltar]  poppmg  at  Frenchmen  all  the  forenoo-     At 
10  A.M.  off  Algeciras  Point  we  were  seriously  attacked 
by  a  large  latmeer  who  had  on  board  more  than  one 
hundred  men.    He  came  so  near  our  broadside  as  to 
a^low  our  six-pound  grape  to  do  execution  handsomely 
We  then  bore  away  and  gave  him  our  stem  guns  in  a 
coo  and  deliberate  manner,  doing  apparently  great  ex- 
ecution.   Our  bars  having  cut  his  sails  considerably, 
ne  was  thrown  into  confusion,  struck  both  his  ensim 
and  h«  pennant.    I  was  then  puzzled  to  know  what lo 
do  with  so  many  men;  c-ir  ship  was  running  large  with 
«^  her  steering  sail,  out.  so  that  we  could  not  immedi- 
ately bring  her  to  the  wind,  and  we  were  direcUy  off 
Algeciras  Pomt  from  whence  I  had  reason  to  fear  she 


1 


»         T-TB  OLD  MERCHA>r.  MARINE 

full  view.    n^T^^t'  "*  P""  GibralUr  in 

however.  •  «tiXtinT    «     .r"*""* '"™  '"■    "  *«. 


CHAPTER  V 

TAMXCI;  VnCINM  AND  NEW  TRADI!  ROVm 

Soon  after  the  Revolution  the  spirit  of  con,n,e«i,l 
exploration  began  to  stir  in  other  port,  than  Salem. 
Out  from  New  York  sailed  the  ship  Empre»  ^ 
a«na  m  1784  for  the  first  direct  voyage  to  Canton, 
o  make  the  acquaintance  of  a  vast  nation  abso- 
lutely unknow.  to  the  people  of  the  United  States 
nor  had  one  in  a  million  of  the  industriou.  and 
h«hly  civilized  Chinese  ever  so  much  as  heard  the 
name  of  the  little  community  of  barbarian,  who 
dwelt  on  the  western  shore  of  the  North  Atlantic 
The  oriental  dignitaries  in  their  silken  robes  gra- 
ciously welcomed  the  foreign  ship  with  thestranae 
flag  and  showed  a  lively  interest  in  the  map  spread 
upon  the  cabin  table,  offering  every  facility  to 
promote  this  new  market  for  their  «ilks  and  teas 
^ter  an  absence  of  fifteen  months  the  Empress 
oj  China  returned  te  her  home  port  and  her  pil- 
pimage  aroused  so  much  attention  that  the  report 
n 


^' 


I 

I'  1-1 


80         THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MABINE 

of  the  supercargo,  Samuel  Shaw,  was  read  in 
Congress. 

Surpassing  this  achievement  was  that  of  Cap- 
tain Stewart  Dean,  who  very  shortly  afterward  had 
his  fling  at  the  China  trade  in  an  eighty-ton  sloop 
built  at  Albany.  He  was  a  stout-hearted  old 
privateersman  of  the  Revolution  whom  nothing 
could  dismay,  and  in  this  tiny  Experiment  of  his  he 
won  merited  fame  as  one  of  the  American  pioneers 
of  blue  water.  Fifteen  men  and  boys  sailed  with 
him,  drilled  and  disciplined  as  if  the  sloop  were 
a  frigate,  and  when  the  Experiment  hauled  into 
the  stream,  off  Battery  Park,  New  York,  "martial 
music  and  the  boatswain's  whistle  were  heard  on 
board  with  all  the  pomp  and  circumstance  of  war." 
Typhoons  and  Malay  proas,  Chinese  pirates  and 
unknown  shoals,  had  no  terrors  for  Stewart  Dean. 
He  saw  Canton  for  himself,  found  a  cargo,  and 
drove  home  again  in  a  four  months'  passage,  which 
was  better  than  many  a  clipper  could  d.,  at  a  much 
later  day.  Smallest  and  bravest  of  the  first  Yankee 
East  Indiamen,  this  taut  sloop,  with  the  boat- 
swain's pipe  trilling  cheerily  and  all  hands  ready 
with  cutlases  and  pikes  to  repel  boarders,  was  by 
no  means  the  least  important  vessel  that  ever 
passed  in  by  Sandy  Hook. 


It 


m  mv:  (v:r)  ilt^a^rnXNT  MARINE 

ot   the  supercargo,   '• 

Congress. 

Surpassing  thii  m  Jhat  of  Cap- 

tuinStewiirtDeaii.  ,Wh,  ..■.  .,:„>•,.  aAtjrvrar.ihiMi 
his  fliiig  at  ihi:  China  trau!-  in  an  eighty-ton  vliiop 
buiit  lit  Albany.  lie  waa  a  stout-hi.«rl.'.:i  oiii 
l)riv!it(>iT.sii;i)u  of  the  li.v,,;,.  ,.  .,  .  i, ...  .  ,.  ,;,,„ 
oiisiti  <ii:i!nuv.  ,uiii  in  '  .  i,^. 

.,     i, ee-y  .laai-i  vvw.asvi  .       '.,, 

^naUS  ^nuseiiK   ^dii»'l  91JJ  jil    .OOTI  ,.}fli(K>  .Kiv.d  sabnija^ 

:•  ;i■.,;..;^■,  «;,.!  « (K'H  irj..  Lj-peri:ii:!H  hauii'd  into 
the  stream,  off  Bjitterj-  Park.  N.w  Vorl-  "mr.rtip! 
mmk  .)HUwam'> 


E<i5t  ln<l!; 


: ! 


.■.iSi  h;u;di  fiUiiy 


==  to  "-fpff  !).  ^Trrirrs 


I 


n 


m 


NEW  TRADE  ROUTES  gj 

^  !t'' ^'^^^'^  °'  ^^^  picturesque  relation 
wiUi  the  Far  East,  Boston  lar?ed  behind  Salem, 
but  her  merchants,  too.  awoke  to  the  opportunity 
Md  so  successfully  that  for  generations  there  were 
no  more  conspicuous  names  and  shipping-houses 
m  the  Chma  trade  than  those  of  Russell.  Perkins 
andForbes.    The  first  attempt  was  ve:y  ambitious 
and  rather  luckless.     The  largest  merchantman 
ever  omit  at  that  time  in  the  United  States  was 
launch«l  at  Quincy  in  1789  to  rival  the  towering 
abps  of  the  b.    -sh  Ea*1  India  Company.    This 
Ma,>achuseW,  created  a  sensation.    Her  departure 
wasanatiomdevent.    Sh.  embodied  the  dreams  of 
a  Captam  Randall  and  of  the  Samuel  Shaw  who 
had  gone  as  supercargo  in  the  Empreos  of  China 
They  formed  a  partnership  and  were  able  to  find 
the  necessary  capital. 

This  six-hundred-ton  ship  loomed  huge  in  the 
eyes  of  the  crowds  which  visited  her.  She  was 
m  fact  no  larger  than  such  four-masted  coasting 
schooners  as  claw  around  Hatteras  with  deck-loads 
of  Georgia  pine  or  fill  with  coal  for  down  East,  and 
manage  it  comfortably  with  seven  or  eight  men 
for  a  crew.  The  Massackusetts,  however,  sailed  in 
all  the  old-fashioned  state  and  dignity  of  a  master 
four  mates,  a  purser,  surgeon,  carpenter,  gunner' 


w 


I 


%i 


ll      , 


8«         THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 

four  quartermasters,  three  „,idshipn.e„.  a  cooper. 

second  officer  was  Amasa  Delano,  a  man  even 
n^ore  .markable  than  the  ship,  who  wandered  f^ 
and  w.de  and  wrote  a  fascinating  book  about  his 
voy''^-,  a  classic  of  its  Icind.  -  the  memoirs  of  an 
Amer^an  merchant  mariner  of  a  bre«l  long  sine 

While  the  Massachu^m  was  fitting  out  at  Bos- 
ton one  small  annoyance  ruffled  the  auspicious 
undertakmg  Three  different  crews  were  siZ 
More  a  fu  complement  could  be  persuad^^ 
^u  the  orecastle.  The  trouble  was  caused  by 
a  fortune-teller  of  Lynn,  Moll  Pitcher  by  name 
who  predicted  disaster  for  the  shiD     n1 

Wst  sailor  knows  that  certintperllrZ 
gospel  fact,  such  as  the  bad  luck  brought  by^ 
"o-eyed  Finu.  a  black  cat.  or  going  I  sea  on 

must  i:;'  T  ^'''"""^  '^"^"^  ^^^^^-^^ 

while  they  had  the  chance.    As  it  turned  out  thf 
voyage  did  have  a  sorry  ending  and  dearlvS 
t^k^an  astonishingly  large  number  of  the  ship. 

Though  she  had  been  designed  and  built  by 
master  craftsmen  of  New  England  who  knew  thet 


NEW  TRADE  ROUTES  gg 

trade  surpassingly  -.  Al.  it  was  discovered  when 
the  ship  arrived  at  Canton  that  her  timbers  were 
already  rotting.    They  were  of  white  oak  which 
had  been  put  into  her  green  instead  of  properly 
seasoned.    This  blunder  wrecked  the  hopes  of  her 
owners.    To  cap  it.  the  cargo  of  masts  and  spars 
had  also  been  stowed  while  wet  and  covered  with 
mud  and  ice.  and  the  hatches  had  been  battened. 
As  a  result  the  air  became  so  foul  with  decay  that 
several  hundred  barrels  of  beef  were  spoiled     To 
repair  the  ship  was  beyond  the  means  of  Captain 
Randall  and  Samuel  Shaw,  and  reluctantly  they 
sold  her  to  the  Danish  East  India  Company  at 
a  heavy  loss.    Nothing  could  have  been  more 
unexpected  than  to  find  that,  for  once,  the  eroe- 
nenced  shipbuilders  had  been  guilty  of  a  mis- 
calculation. 

The  crew  scattered,  and  perhaps  the  prediction 
of  the  fortune-teller  of  Lynn  followed  their  roving 
courses  for  when  Captain  Amasa  Delano  tried  to 
trace  them  a  few  yea,«  later,  he  jotted  down  such 
obituaries  as  these  on  the  list  of  names: 

John  Harris.    A  slave  in  Algiers  at  last  accounts 
^  Roger  Dyer.    Died  and  thrown  overboa^TrCape 
William  Williams.    Lost  overboard  off  Japan. 


I 


ii 


I 


M         THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MABINl! 
uiZ''  Crowley.    MuHe«d  by  th.  Chine*  ,^ 
^hhn  J„h„«„.    DW  on  b<»H  „  E„g,i.h  i„^^ 

SethStoweU.     W«  drowned  at  Whampoa  in  1790 
^Je«„«hCW     Diedwiththe^alCL^ISL- 

_^  Humphrey  Ch^iburn.    Shot  and  died  at  Whampo. 

Samuel  Tripe.    Drowned  off  Java  Head  in  1790 
James  Stackpole.    Murdered  by  the  ^ine« 
Nicholas    Nicholson.    Died    Jth    th.  ? 
Macao.  ''    *''"   '*P™y    •» 

WiUiam  Murphy.     KiUed  by  Chinese  pirates 
Larry  Conner.     Killed  at  sea. 

There  were  «ore  of  these  gruesome  item,  _  «, 
many  of  them  that  it  appear  a.  though  no  more 
tt.a„  a  handful  of  this  stalwart  crew  survived  Z 
Ma^sackusetU  by  a  dozen  years.    Incredible  as  i 
^unds    Captain  Delano's  roster  accounted  fo 
fifty  of  them  as  dead  while  he  was  still  in  the  prime 
of  hfe.  and  most  of  them  had  been  snuffed  out  by 
V.OW.    ^forhisow„career.itwasover.astby 
no  sud.  unlucky  star,  and  he  passed  unscathed 
«a«.ugh  all  the  hazards  and  vicissitudes  thatt^ 
be  encountered  in  that  rugged  and  heroic  era  of 
endeavor.    Set  adrift  in  Canton  when  the  Jf<«,a- 
chusetts  was  sold,  he  promptly  turned  .his  hand  to 


NEW  TRADE  ROUTES  sA 

repairing  a  large  Danish  ship  which  had  been 
wrecked  by  storm,  and  he  virtually  rebuilt  her  to 
the  great  satisfaction  of  the  owners. 

Thence,  with  money  in  his  pocket,  young  Del- 
ano went  to  Macao,  where  he  fell  in  with  Commo- 
dore John  McClure  of  the  English  Navy,  who  was 
m  command  of  an  expedition  setting  out  to  explore 
a  part  of  the  South  Seas,  including  the  Pelew 
Islands.  New  Guinea.  New  Holland,  and  the  Spice 
Islands.     The  Englishman  liked  this  resourceful 
Yankee  seaman  and  did  him  the  honor  to  say 
recalls  Delano,  "that  he  considered  I  should  be  a 
very  useful  man  to  him  as  a  seaman,  an  officer,  or  a 
ship-builder;  and  if  it  was  agreeable  to  me  to  go  on 
board  tne  Panther  with  him,  I  should  receive  the 
same  pay  and  emoluments  with  his  lieutenants  and 
astronomers."    A  signal  honor  it  was  at  a  time 
when  no  love  was  lost  between  British  and  Ameri- 
can seafaiers  who  had  so  recently  fought  each 
other  afloat. 

And  so  Amasa  Delano  embarked  as  a  lieutenant  of 
the  Bombay  Marine,  to  explore  tropic  harbors  and 
lagoons  until  then  unmapped  and  to  parley  with 
dusky  kings.  Commodore  McClure,  diplomatic 
and  humane,  had  ahnost  no  trouble  with  the  un- 
tutored islanders,  except  on  the  coast  of  New 


M 


■  ,: 


«         THE  OLD  MKRCHANT  MARINE 

iike  hail  acro«  the  del  a  e^^'  r?'"  '^''^« 
«ot  from  the  taffliJ;  ^"^  ''"'"'*  'P*!'*- 
^-andpuiCTi^^^-^^j^ohitint^^ 

again.  "^"^  «>  JUmp  to  hu  duty 

licentious  crews  anH     ?  **'"'"'^  "^ 

crews  and  adventurers  on   tJ,»  ^.i. 
n.ay  ever  enter  the  channing  villal  of  P>        ' 
to  ..ve  disease  to  the  mnaslZj.^y^ 
unsuspecting  inhabitants."  °^  ^^^ 


NEW  TRADE  ROUTES  87 

Two  yeam  of  thia  inteiwely  romantic  exwtence, 
and  Delano  started  homeward.    But  there  wai  a 
chance  of  profit  at  Mauritius,  and  there  he  bought 
a  tremendous  East  Indiaman  of  fourteen  hundred 
tons  as  a  joint  venture  with  a  Captain  Stewart  and 
put  a  crew  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  men  on  board. 
She  had  been  brought  in  by  a  French  privateer  and 
Delano  was  moved  to  remark,  with  an  indignation 
which  was  much  in  advance  of  his  times:    "Pri- 
vateering is  entirely  at  variance  with  the  first 
principle  of  honorable  warfare.  .  .  .    This  system 
of  licensed  robbery  enables  a  wicked  and  mercenaiy 
man  to  insult  and  injure  even  neutral  friends  on 
the  ocean;  and  when  he  meets  an  honest  sailor  who 
may  have  all  his  earnings  on  board  his  ship  but 
who  carries  an  enemy's  flag,  he  plunders  him  of 
every  cent  and  leaves  him  the  poor  consolation 
that  it  is  done  according  to  law.  .  .  .    When  the 
Malay  subjects  of  Abba  Thule  cut  down  the  cocoa- 
nut  trees  of  an  enemy,  in  the  spirit  of  private 
revenge,  he  asked  them  why  they  acted  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  principles  on  which   they  knew  he 
always  made  and  Conducted  a  war.    They  an- 
swered, and  let  the  reason  make  us  humble,  'The 
English  do  so.'" 
In  his  grand  East  Indiaman  young  Captain 


■1 

11 

i 


w 


*- 


If 
I'l     » 

i : 


I  r 


.'f 


•o'wiag with  wh.tT«r.t:f  ^"  !°° '-^'o'hi" 
••kJ  the  .hip  w„  l^W  r     '^"'"^"Wn.uaur. 

•kipper  who  o£^;,Z  1  '  '"•"'"y  Aniericw 
-Wch  he  «ceptS^ '^:^  r""^  ^  ^"'■'-'^Hi.. 
•'though  hi.^,7w«  w^  J^""  ''^*^"'">  ""•»■ 

;«nd  with  so  httle  Ple«„  "L"rr"  '"  "'""" 
he  assure,  u..  «,d  th.  T  ^"'  "''""' ««  '*- 

W  leaped  with  deH^t  w«  "  "'"'  '"'  '^«"'<' 
and  sadness.  *     ^'^  ^"''"^  '^'U'  «loo« 

-'^:;::Lr.::*jL:':r"^^«etos.et. 

«»e.e  bygone  .hipn^L^V  JtT'  ""'*'""  °^ 
«fl-ted  the  genfus  and  th  t^r^Z  T^'^^'^ 
e«tion.     There  was   in  ,      '""P^'  "^  their  gen- 

appeal,  to  us  beyond  all  1  ^  '""''*^  *^'* 
beam  ends,  they  weren  J  .f  ^^^  °°  their 
<=^.  eager  to  s^^^Z^ZTr '^''''''^ 
courage  unbroken.  It  w^  ^  VhT"''  '^'  '""' 
'^ho  promptly  went  1  T  ^""^^  ^^^'^o, 
Ptly  went  to  work  "with  what  spirits  i 


NEW  TIUDE  ROUTES  gp 

could  revive  within  me.    After  .  Ume  they  re- 
turned  to  their  former  elMticity." 

He  obUined  •  poaiUon  u  mwter  builder  in  a 
•hipymrd.  wved  Mme  money,  borrowed  more,  and 
with  one  of  his  brothers  was  soon  blithely  building 
•  vessel  of  two  hundred  tons  for  a  voyage  into  the 
FMific  and  to  the  northwest  coast  after  seals. 
They  sailed  along  Patagonia  and  found  much 
to  interest  them,  dodged  in  and  out  of  the  porta 
of  Chill  and  Peru,  and  incidentally  recaptured  a 
Spanish  ship  which  was  in  the  hands  of  the  slaves 
who  formed  her  cai^o. 

This  was  all  in  the  days  work  and  happened 
«t  the  island  of  Santa  Maria,  not  far  from  Juan 
Fernandez,  where  Captain  Delano's  Perseverance 
^.  nd  the  h-gh-poopeH  Tryal  in  a  desperate  state 
Sp-nish  sailors  who  had  survived  the  massacre 
were  leaping  overboard  or  scrambling  up  to  the 
mastheads   while   the   African   savages   capered 
on  deck  and  flourished  their  weapons.    Captain 
Dehino  liked  neither  the  Spania«l  nor  the  slave- 
trade.  uL .  It  was  his  duty  to  help  fellow  seamen  in 
dmtress;  so  he  cleared  for  action  and  ordered  two 
boats  away  to  attend  to  the  matter.    The  chief 
mate.  Rufus  Low,  was  in  charge,  and  a  gallant 
•ailor  he  showed  himself.    They  had  to  climb  the 


: 


II 


i;:     \ 


f 


mite  of  a  midshipman  from  Bo!*  '"  ' 

passenger  was  killed  in  the  fr,y  ^  " 

them1:in'"th:f'"^"''^'''^-^^'»«ened 
cm  aown,  the  American  partv  rpti.«.^ 

morning  to  put  the  irons  on  th^m    A  .1  "'"' 
confronted  them.    TharstLl!"   ^  ^"'^'J  ««ht 

Span.hsai,orshadspr:fa^:,3::;,r 
negroes  to  ringbolts  in  the  deck  anrfJ        u 
the  liWng  flesh  from  them  wi^raT    !,      "^""'"^ 
m«  iances.    Captain  olltZS'?  ^"'■ 
these  brutes  and  locked  them  up  nK^""""^' 
t^^in.  possession  of  the  st;jr,.^,X:- 
store  order.     The  sequel  was  th»t  7 
the  august  thanks  oTtle  vL^  „f  chT'^1 
a  «old  medal  from  His  CathZnaSy   T 

mules,  to  be  hanged,  their  bodies 


NEW  TRADE  ROUTES  91 

burned,  and  their  heads  stuck  upon  poles  in  the 
plaza. 

It  was  while  in  this  Chilean  port  of  Talc-  huano 
that  Amasa  Delano  heard  the  tale  of  the   Miish 
whaler  which  had  sailed  just  before  his  arrival. 
He  tells  it  so  well  that  I  am  tempted  to  quote  it  u 
a  generous  tribute  to  a  sailor  of  a  rival  race.    After 
all,  they  were  sprung  from  a  common  stock  and 
blood  was  thicker  than  water.    Besides,  it  is  the 
sort  of  yarn  that  ought  to  be  dragged  to  the  light 
of  day  from  its  musty  burial  between  the  covers 
of  Delano's  rare  and  ancient  Voyage*  and  TrcweU. 
The  whaler  Bet»g,  it  seems,  went  in  and  an- 
chored under  the  guns  of  the  forts  to  seek  provi- 
sions and  make  repairs.    Ine  captain  went  ashore 
to  interview  the  officials,  leaving  word  that  no 
Spaniards   should   be   allowed   to   come   aboard 
because  of  the  bad  feeling  against  the  English. 
Three  or  four  large  boats  filled  with  troops  pres- 
ently vee/ed  alongside  and  were  ordered  to  keep 
clear.     This   command   was   resented,   and   the 
troops  opened  fire,  followed  by  the  forts.    Now 
for  the  deed  of  a  man  with  his  two  feet  under  him. 

The  chief  officer  of  the  BOiy  whose  name  was  Hudson 
a  man  of  extraordinary  bravery,  cut  his  cable  and  his 
ship  swung  the  wrong  way,  with  her  head  in  shore 


N 


i  tl 


I- .  I 


«*         THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 

passing  close  to  several  <?n.„-  k   l. 

gether  with  three  hn,X?^it      T  «"°  *°  »«".  ^ 
decks  and  the  two  o£^^'t^T\'^'"""^  "'' '^P'» 
on  him.    The  wind  was  Snl?'  ""  "  «""*«'  -^ 
flew  so  thick  that  itTas IffficS  h'^^^    "^^  '"^ 
»ome  part  of  the  rigging  be,W  ./        ""  '°  "«'''  "^ 
^  Hekepthis  men  aTthLn^rH  T"^  T'^  '"^'"e• 
her  broadside  so  as  to  X^'.!!'' ''''*°  *'"«  ^«P  «wung 
«hips.  he  kept  up  a  &t  aUheT/nTh  °'  ''''  ^''"^' 
brave  fedow  continued  to  fefor  th«^"  ""^"°''  *•>« 
hour  before  he  got  his  tool^     l''"*-'l»'»rters  of  an 
action  continued  in  thirl*^      .  ''"**«'  '«""«•     The 
half.   He  suecS  d  ;iT«n°?^" '«*'>>"  «d  a 
in  defiance  ofTthe  or^  ^^f  ^^'^'^  *°  ^^a,  however 

".■-  The  ship  t':strcutt''°"«''* '•«"-' 

"ggmg.  and  hull;  dnd  a  cTn^w      k,      P"^"  '"  «"». 
w«.  kiUed  and  wounded  oTSaT'''  '"""'^'  °'  -- 

he  could  find  the  leisure.   W  of  tK      '"'•  ^"°«  ''»'«■" 
begged  him  to  give  u^  th.T^  ?  ,^     '"^"  =*■"«  aft  and 
all  be  killed  -  fC  Z^rSlS'^''"  ^""^  ^""^^ 
shot  away-that  one  m^wt      /•   T'""'^'"''''''" 
double-headed  shot  as  ZZ         •    '  '"  ^"^^^  '^th  a 
fore^opsail  and  the  b^^ytd  TaC  f'i  *°  '~-  «•" 
rateparts-thatsuchrma„JtMl^"='!"°.*r»P-- 
the  forecastle,  and  one  mo,^hadL„i^ '.'•'""'"'y  °° 
top  -  that  Sam.  Jim,  Ja^rS  ^   '""''' «  *•">  °«in- 
and  that  they  would  do  nothl^r,jr  Z'^'''^  " 
the  ship  out  of  the  harbor.  ^'"*^  8e*«n8 


iff 

fit 


NEW  TRADE  ROUTEf  93 

His  reply  to  them  was,  "then  you  shaU  be  sure  to  die, 

for  If  they  do  not  kiU  you  I  wiU,  so  sure  as  you  persist 

in  any  ^jch  ccvardly  resolution,"  saying  at  the  same 

time.     Out  she  goes,  or  down  she  goes. " 

By  this  resolute  and  determined  conduct  he  kept  the 
men  to  their  duty  and  succeeded  n  accomplishing  one 
of  tJie  most  darmg  enterprises  perhaps  ever  attempted. 

An  immortal  phrase,  this  simple  dicium  of  first 
mate  Hudson  of  the  BeUy,  "Out  she  goes,  or  down 
she  goes,"  and  not  unworthy  of  being  mentioned 
in  the  same  breath  with  Farragut's  "Damn  the 
torpedoes." 

Joined  by  his  brother  Samuel  in  the  schooner 
Pil0im,  which  was  used  as  a  tender  in  the  seal- 
ing trade,  Amasa  Delano  frequented  unfamUiar 
beaches  until  he  had  taken  his  toll  of  skins  and 
was  ready  to  bear  away  for  Canton  to  sell  them. 
There  were  many  Yankee  ships  after  seals  in  those 
early  days,  enduring  more  peril  and  privation 
than  the  whalemen,  roving  over  the  South  Pacific 
among  the  rock-bound  islands  un).  nown  to  the  mer- 
chant navigator.    The  men  sailed  wholly  on  shares, 
a  seaman  receiving  one  per  cent  of  the  catch  and 
the  captain  ten  per  cent,  and  they  slaughtered  the 
seal  by  the  million,  driving  them  from  the  most 
favored  haunts  within  a  few  years.    For  instance, 
American  ships  first  visited  Mas  a  Fuera  in  1797, 


i 


M         THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 

andCaptainDelanoestimatedthatduringtheseven 
year,  following  three  million  dcins  were  taken  to 
China  from  this  ialand  alone.  He  found  as  many 
^fourteen  vessels  there  at  onetime,  andhehimseif 
earned  away  one  hundred  thousand  skins.  It  was 
a  gold  mme  for  profit  while  it  lasted. 

There  were  three  Delano  brothers  afloat  in  two 
vessels,  and  of  their  wanderings  Amasa  set  down 
this  epitome:    "Almost  the  whole  of  our  comiec- 
tions  who  were  left  behind  had  need  of  our  assist- 
ance, and  to  look  forward  it  was  no  more  than  a 
reasonable  calculation  to  make  that  our  absence 
would  not  be  less  than  three  years  .  .  .  together 
w>th  the  extraordinary  uncertainty  of  the  issue 
of  the  voyage,  as  we  had  nothing  but  our  hands 
to  depend  upon  to  obtain  a  cargo  which  was  only 
to  be  done  through  storms,  dangers,  and  breakers, 
and  taken  from  barren  rocks  in  distant  regions. 
But  after  a  voyage  of  four  years  for  one  vessel  and 
five  for  the  other,  we  were  all  permitted  to  return 
safe  home  to  our  friends  and  not  quite  empty- 
handed.    We  had  built  both  of  the  vessels  we  were 
m  and  navigated  them  two  and  three  times  around 
the  globe.      Each  one  of  the  brothers  had  been  a 
master  builder  and  rigger  and  a  navigator  of  ships 
m  every  part  of  the  world. 


NEW  TRADE  ROUTES  93 

By  far  the  most  important  voyage  undertaken 

by  Amencan  merchantmen  during  the  declTcJ 

bnl  W  achievement  following  the  RevoSl^ 

wh.ch  wa.  the  first  ship  to  visit  and  explore^e' 
nor«,west  coast  and  to  lead  the  way  for  sui  Z 
r:"I"'*'^-«-hard  Cleveland  and  Ama^aSa^- 
On  h«  second  voyage  in  1792.  Captain  Gray  di^ 

covered  hegreatriver  he  christened  Columbiaan" 
so  gave  to  the  United  States  its  valid  title  toTat 

r  *:T^  "'•'■'^^  ^^''^  -^  Clark  were  to  ^1 
^^r  toJmg  over  the  mountains  thirteen  yet. 


r 


m 


CHAPTER  VI 

"free  trade  and  bailors'  rights !" 

When  the  first  Congress  under  the  new  Federal 
Constitution  assembled  in  1789,  a  spirit  of  pride 
was  manifested  in  the  swift  recovery  and  the  en- 
courajr>g  growth  of  the  merchant  marine,  together 
with  a  concerted  determination  to  promote  and 
protect  it  by  means  of  national  legislation.  The 
most  imperative  need  was  a  series  of  retaliatory 
measures  to  meet  the  burdensome  navigation  laws 
of  England,  to  give  American  ships  a  fair  field 
and  no  favors.  The  Atlanuc  trade  was  there- 
fore stimulated  by  allowing  a  reduction  of  ten  per 
cent  of  the  customs  duties  on  goods  imported  in 
vessels  built  aud  owned  by  American  citizens. 
The  East  India  trade,  which  already  employed 
forty  New  England  ships,  was  fostered  in  like 
manner.  Teas  brought  direct  under  the  Ameri- 
can flag  paid  an  average  duty  of  twelve  cents  a 
pound  while  teas  in  foreign  bottoms  were  taxed 

M 


m 


«" 


Of 


With   .i  40i,<(>rSifd  <!t'l'frini!!iitji)n   t.j  proimoff  and 
i ''""  ■  '  '•.■gisltilion.     The 

'ii.i-r     ■  ■•.,■..  ,.■:  ,,-(u'.,,.,.  ,, 

./    liei.i 


'.U  ;n 


fl 


il 


-  I.  fltig  uaiii  mi  avefag»<  duiv  i 


$ 


it 


"PRBE  TRADE  AND  SAILORS'  RIGHTO-    07 
twenty-even  cent..    It  w«  .tunly  protection 
for  on  a  crKo  of  one  hundred  thoZd  pou^ 

•«rtedte«fro„.I,di,„,Chin...B„'L.hJ 
would  pay  W7.800  into  the  custom  hou^  and  I 
»»lem  square-rigger  only  $10,980 

with  the  Far  East  was  absolutely  secured  to  the 
Amencanflag.    Not  content  with  this.  Congress 

».t  ed  the  nafve  owner  to  pay  six  cents  per  ton 
Zt  "'""  ""^  '°'*«»"  '-^  d-n  fifty 

ur«i  or  th.rty  cents  if  he  owned  an  American- 
bmlt  vessel.  In  1794.  Congress  became  even  more 
energet.  .n  defense  of  its  mariners  and  increas^ 
0>e  tariff  rates  on  merchandise  in  foreign  vessels 
A  nation  at  last  united,  jealous  of  its  rights,  r^ 
.entful  of  .ndignities  long  suffered,  and  intent 
gently  ahve  to  iu  shipping  as  the  chief  bulwark 
olprospenty.  struck  back  with  peaceful  weapons 

andgameda.,cto^ofincalculableadvant«ge.  Its 
Confess,  no  longer  feeble  and  divided,  laid  the 
oundauons  for  American  greatness  upon  the  high 
eas  wh,ch  was  to  endure  for  more  than  a  half  J^. 
tury.  Wars,  embargoes,  and  confiscations  might 
interrupt  but  they  could  not  seriously  harm  it. 


,  r 


!":■ 


m 


«         -niE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 

in  the  three  yean  a/ter  irso  »i. 
•".PPing  registered  for  the  tor^l\^'  """""' 
'«"»  183.893  ton.  to  411  438?  '"^* '""-wd 
Kmwth  without  paraJIel  in  ;tu''  ""**'*  « 
nie«.ial  world.  Forfl  ^  "'"'^  °'  '*"  «»- 
•^'•venoutofAlS^rt;':?"""*^-"""^ 
-"t  of  imporu  and  eTgCl  T  '""''^■°"*  »« 

Americans.    Before  r„„  manned  by 

-hant.enhXn3-,C::rr 

-arning  whSts  /  T*  '"'"^-  '"'  "«-«^  « 
true  and  apt  in  1  ?  T"  ""'^  *«  «■><!  ""H 
have  no  ae^n  ^.r  7"  ""■  ""*'^-  "«  -« 
quentlvourTh^'tLs     "'      "  '^  "^'««'  «>"- 

buiiding  :;;h:Tan':;r;hir  '^"""^  --  ^^■■•'■ 

over  to  other  nations;  Zt'ytV7T''  ""  ''^ 
to  the  sea;  our  umAuM  *      °  ^''''*' "»  call 

time  of  war  -  anH  tJ.„  i,-  V  'nsurance  in 

years  shows  tha^  t^e  n'^^  °/.  f  '^^  hundred 

ha.  three  y«ju;rre::'r"''^«™-- 

peace."  ^"^^"^  '°"'  years  of 

The  steady  growth  of  an  American  merchant 


-raEE  TRADE  AND  SAILORS"  R,G,m...    „ 

dZl  't  if^"'^  °"'*-  ""'^  '■"  "-■  '""owing 

Convent  ,?•"*•  A  decree  of  the  National 
Convention  of  the  French  Republic  granted  neu- 
^*>  ve«el.  the  .an.e  right,  .,  thoJwhich  flew 
the  tncolor.     Thia  privilege  reopened  a  rushing 

gZT  '">-   American   port,   to  Martinique. 
Guadeloupe,  and  St.  Lucia. 
Like  a  thunderbolt  came  the  tiding,  that  Eng- 

F^nch  colon.es  as  neutral  and  that  her  cruiser, 
had  been  to  d  to  seize  all  ve.«els  engaged  in  it  and 
to  search  them  for  Engli,h-bom  seamen.  Th"s 
^hng  was  enforced  with  ,uch  barbarou,  severity 
that  t  seemed  a,  if  the  War  for  Independence  haj 

save  themselves,  great  fleet,  of  Yankee  merchant- 
m^  were  hterally  swept  from  the  water,  of  the 

Ber^  .  r   "'"'^"'"^-    The   iudg. 

«t    Bermuda    condemned    eleven    more.     CrTws 
and  passenger,  were  flung  ashore  without  f  J 
o   cloUung^were  abused,  insulted,  or  perhaps  ^ 
pressed  m  British  privateers.    The  ships  wefe  lo" 
to  their  owner,      T».»,» 

owner,.    There  was  no  appeal  and  no 


mi 


100        THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 

captured  St.  Pierre  in  February.  1794.     Files  <rf 
manne.  boarded  eve.y  American  ship  i„  I'L 
W.to«  down  the  ooior,.  and  flungLhti 

huUc.  There  tjey  were  kept,  half ^ead  with  thirst 
and  hunger  while  their  vessels,  uncared  for  hTd 
s^„dedors„nkattheirn.oorings.  Scores^'out 
rages  a.  abonamable  as  this  were  on  record  in  the 
officeoftheSecretaryofState.  Shipniasters  wl 
a^rajdtosaUtothesouthwa«land.fo.laokrZ 

ZSh^'  '"■"'."'•  ^'^  «^^^«  -»»---  o 
Marblehead  were  idle. 

For  a  time  a  second  war  with  England  seemed 
--ent.    An  alarmed  Congress  pled  ZS 

Z2  "  Tk'"''  *"  '"'"'^  *^*  «"-*  '"-Portant 
m^dT       r-    ^"dent  Washington  recom- 
mended an  embai^o  of  thirty  days.  wWch  Congress 
promptly  voted  and  then  extended  for  thirty  i^re 
It  was  a  popular  measure  and  strictly  enforced  by 
^emarmers  themselves.    The  mates  and  captai,^ 
of  the  br«s  and  snows  in  the  Delaware  River  met 
and  re«>lved  not  to  go  f«  sea  for  another  ten  days 
sweanng  to  lie  idle  sooner  than  feed  the  Britbh 
robbers  m  the  West  Indies.    It  was  in  the  midst  of 
these  demonstrations  that  Washington  seized  the 


"FREE  TRADE  AND  SAILORS'  HIGHTC,"  ,01 
one  hope  of  peace  and  recommended  a  »edj 
mission  to  England. 

The  treaty  negotiated  by  John  Jay  in  1794  wa. 
received  with  an  outburst  of  popular  indignation. 

Portsmouth  burned  him  in  effigy.  By  wav  of  .„ 
answer  to  the  terms  of  the  obnoXus  tLat^  a  sT 
faring  mob  in  Boston  raided  and  burned  L  Brit- 
lA  privateer  SpeedweU.  which  had  put  into  that 

tio^  hidden  beneath  a  cargo  of  West  India  pro- 
Tie  most  that  can  be  said  of  the  commensal 

trade  w,th  the  East  Indies  but  at  the  price  of 
-mplete  freedom  „f  trade  for  British  shipping 
«Amencan  ports.    It  r-ust  be  said.  too.  that  al 
though  the  treaty  failed  to  clear  away  the  gravest 
cause  of  hostility  -  .he  right  of  seLh  a^dl- 

dash,  and  during  the  years  in  which  it  was  in  fo«e 
American  shipping  splendidly  prospered,  freed  of 
Its  most  irksome  handicaps. 

The  quarrel  with  France  had  been  b«,wing  at 
the  same  tmie  and  for  similar  reasons.  NmUral 
trade  with  England  was  under  the  ban.  and  the 


;'l 


V) 


i/ 


108       THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 

v««el  ,f  he  smled  to  or  from  a  port  under  the  Brit- 

a^d  French  pnvateers  weJcomed  the  excuse  to 

What     meant  to  fight  off  these  greedy  cutthroats 
« to  dm  a  newspaper  account  of  the  engagement  of 

bound  to  Salem  m  the  .hip  Perseverance  in  1799 

He  was  m  the  Old  Straits  of  Bahama  when  a  fit 

chooner  came  up  astern,  showing  Spanish  coIo" 

and  car.ymg  a  tremendous  press  of  canvas.    Un- 

lor.^^V""''  '""^  '^''  ^''P*^-  WheaUand 
reported  to  his  owners: 

action     tL       u       ^  *°  quarters  and  prepared  for 

siderable  distance     wl  .  •    **"  °"  '^  «'  »  «»»- 

and  we  pa:sSTach'!  hHiS'i  '"'  ^'^  -""'• 

refused,  ial;*."  '°  r**  '''^'^'  ^^""^  ^e 
his  orders  wrthfmen^TitT  "^  T'^^  "^"'^ 
3ink  us.  using  at  ThT^e  w  ^1  "'""^ '"' ^'"•'•' 
famous  language  it  isITsihl  t  "^  "''  ^'^  °'™'  '"- 
haiil«1  tl,»  iT-    :         Possio'e  to  conceive  of.  .  .      We 


"FREE  TRADE  AND  SAILORS'  RIGffre!"  103 

IS.^lL"  "°?^  ""-siderably  ahead,  tacked  and 
T     ^T^'  «"^8  "^  »  broadside  and  furious  dis 

t^tetter  part  of  the  engagement.    His  musket  balls 

l2lSl>h  ''""  VT''''''"'''^  ""'''  "^  ^hile  our  guns 
loaded  with  round  shot  and  square  bars  of  iron  were 
Jed  »  bnskly  and  directed  with  such  good  Sml" 
that  before  he  got  out  of  range  we  had  cut  his  rnM 

ffi.-^  P.'""'  '^'  *°  "^  """i  '''""red  his  decks  ^ 
effective  y  that  when  he  bo«  away  from  us  there  were 

Z?a^Tl"V°'^'^°-  H«thenstruckhisEn^LT 
flag  and  hoisted  the  flag  of  The  Terrible  Republic  and 
made  off  with  aU  the  sail  he  could  carry,  mu  h  dfs 
appointed  no  doubt,  at  not  being  able  togive  us  a  S- 
ternal  embrace.  We  feel  confidence  that^U  have  rid 
the  world  of  some  infamous  pests  of  society. 

By  this  tine,  the  United  States  was  engaged  in 
active  hostilities  with  Prance,  although  war  had 
not  been  declared.     The  news  of  the  indignities 
Which  American  commissions  had  suffered  at  the 
hands  of  the  French  Directory  had  stirred  the 
P«.ple  to  war  pitch.    Strong  measures  for  national 
defense  were  taken,  which  stopped  little  short  of 
war     The  country  rallied  to  the  slogan,  "Millions 
for  defense  but  not  one  cent  for  tribute, "  and  the 
merdiants  of  the  seaports  hastened  to  subscribe 
fmids  to  build  frigates  to  be  loaned  to  the  Govern- 
ment.   Salem  launched  the  famous  Es>ex.  readj 


^^!  w* 


104        THE  OLD  aiEBCHANT  MABINE 

'^Z  ^"T  f *"^  '"•  ""^ '"'''  •* « -t 

urS      ^'^''J^f  """""^  *'"'^'  '^  «"« '^t  with 
ten  thou.aad  dollar,  each.   The  call  sent  out  by 

ttem«tepbuJder.Eno.Brigg,.ri^^U.  thrilling 

Sut't^jr'So'S.S*""'''"^"^"'-^''^^- 
inir  th7fri«i!  /  S''*  ''°"  ««i3tance  in  build- 

oaiem  where  the  noble  structure  is  to  be  f«hW..»  J  . 

Tliis  handsome  frigate  privately  built  by  pa- 
taote  of  the  republic  illuminates  the  coast^e 
^•ntandconditionsofhertime.  ShewasaSalem 
sh.p  from  keel  to  truck.  Captain  Jonathan  Hara- 
den.  the  finest  privateersman  of  the  Revolution, 
made  the  nggmg  for  the  maimnast  at  his  rop^ 
walk  m  Brown  Street.  Joseph  Vincent  fitted  o^ 
tte  foremast  and  Thomas  Briggs  the  mizzenmast 
m  their  lofta  at  the  foot  of  the  Common.    When 


"FBKE  TBADE  AND  SAILORS'  RIGHTS!"  105 
the  huge  hemp  cables  were  ready  for  the  frigate, 
the  workmen  carried  them  to  the  shipyard  on  their 
slwulders,  the  parade  led  by  fife  and  drum.  Her 
sails  were  cut  from  duck  woven  in  Daniel  Rust's 
factory  in  Broad  Street  and  her  iron  work  was 
forged  by  Salem  shipsmiths.  It  was  not  surprising 
that  Captain  Richard  Derby  was  chosen  to  com- 
mand the  Essex,  but  he  was  abroad  in  a  ship  of  his 
own  and  she  sailed  under  Cap'ain  Edward  Preble 
of  the  Navy. 

The  war  doud  passed  and  tne  merchant  argosies 
overflowed  the  wharves  and  havens  of  New  Eng- 
land, which  had  ceased  to  monopolize  the  business 
on  blue  water.    New  York  had  become  a  seaport 
with  long  ranks  of  high-steeved  bowsprits  soaring 
above  pleasant  Battery  Park  and  a  forest  of  spars 
extending  up  the  East  River.    ±n  1790  more  than 
two  thousand  ships,  brigs,  schooners,  and  smaller 
craft      \  entered  and  cleared,  and  the  merchants 
metii.     J  coffee-houses  to  discuss  charters,  bills-of- 
lading,  and  adventures.   Sailors  commanded  thrice 
the  wages  of  laborers  ashore.    Shipyards  were  in- 
creasing and  the  builders  could  build  as  large  and 
swift  East  Indiamen  as  those  of  which  Boston  and 
Salem  boasted. 
Philadelphia  had  her  Stephen  Girard.  whose 


19 


«»       IBK  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 
w«ilth  WM  earned  in  ships,  a  man  most  remarkable 
«d  eccentric,  whose  ca.^,  was  one  of  the  great 
Z        "  """"'"^"     ^""^h  h«  father  was  a 

W«t  Ind,a  trade,  he  was  shifting  for  himself  as  a 
cabm-boy  on  h.s  father's  ships  when  only  fourteen 

LTw  f  T  "°  ^^'^°^"''«'  ''-'^  ''^^  »-^ 
and  the  French  West  Indies  for  nine  years,  untU 
he  gamed  the  rank  of  first  mate.  At  the  IgTJ 
twenty-srx  he  entered  the  port  of  Philadelphia  in 
command  of  a  sloop  which  had  narrowly  LaZ 
capture  by  British  frigates.  There  he  took^ht 
dom.c  e  and  laid  the  foundation  of  his  fortune t 
Tolgr^^^"*"^'*"^^'^  «''---<»  Santo 

sh,t  Y^lu'J^"^''  *°  *'"''''  *  «^t  «^  beautiful 
J.P  for  the  Chma  and  India  trade,  their  names. 
Monie^uuu,  HeMius,  Voltaire,  and  B^seau,  ri 
veahngh,s  ideas  of  religion  and  liberty.  So  «t 
-^ully  d.d  he  combine  banking  and  shipp^; 
that  m  1813  he  was  believed  to  be  the  weal^iest 

hs  sh,ps  from  China  was  captured  off  the  Capes 
o  the  Delaware  by  a  British  privateer.  Her  cajo 
of  teas,  nankeens,  and  silks  was  worth  half  a 


"FREE  TRADE  AND  SAILORS'  RIGHTO!"  I07 
million  dollars  to  him  but  he  succeeded  in  ransom- 
ing it  on  the  spot  by  counting  out  one  hundred 
and  eighty  thousand  Spanish  milled  dollars.  No 
privateersman  could  resist  such  strategy  as  this. 

Alone  in  his  old  age.  without  a  friend  or  rela- 
tive to  close  his  eyes  in  death,  Stephen  Girard, 
once  a  penniless,  ignorant  French  cabin-boy,  be- 
queathed his  miUions  to  philanthropy,  and'  the 
Girard  College  for  orphan  boys,  in  Philadelphia,  is 
his  monument. 

The  Treaty  of  Amiens  brought  a  little  respite  to 
Europe  and  a  peaceful  interlude  for  American 
shipmasters,  but  France  and  England  came  to 
grips  again  in  1803.    For  two  years  thereafter  the 
United  States  was  almost  the  only  important  neu- 
tral nation  not  involved  in  the  welter  of  conflict 
on  land  and  sea,  and  trade  everywhere  sought  the 
protection  of  the  Stars  and  Stripes.    Enghmd  had 
swept  her  own  rivals,  men-of-war  and  merchant- 
men, from  the  face  of  the  waters.    France  and 
Holland  ceased  to  carry  cargoes  beneath  their 
own  ensigns.    Spain  was  afraid  to  send  her  galleons 
to  Mexico  and  Peru.    AU  the  Continental  ports 
were  begging  for  American  ships  to  transport  their 
merchandise.    It  was  a  maritime  harvest  unique 
and  unexpected. 


>*" 


ill 


108  THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 
,  ^"^^  ^^P^  ''en,  dominating  the  ,u«r 
with  the  coffee,  hides,  and  indigo  of  VenezuaU 
andBrazi,  Their  fleet.  erowdX  J^^t 
Man.  a  and  Batavi.  and  p«ied  the  war^!^' 
of  Antwerp,  L.sbon,  and  Hambmg.  It  was  a  sk^ 
tion  which  England  could  noM, '.  Jf  *  r*' 
attempting  to  thwart  an  i^mJl^^^^^l 

^nstniedasgi^ngaidandcomforttohertetS 

Under  cover  of  the  soiled  Rule  of  17M  BritiS 

adnnralty  courts   began  to  condemn  Ameri^ 

vessels  canning  p^Klucts  iron,  enemies^^ 

to  Europe,  even  wh^n  the  voyage  was  bro^n  by 

&st  entering  an  American  port.    It  was  on  ri,^ 

m  September.  1805,  that  fifty  American  ship^^ 

been  condemned  in  England  and  as  many  more  to 

the  British  West  Indies. 

wi^lT  "  '^^r.^^^'  ho-ver.  compared 
with  the  huge  calamity  which  befell  when  Napo- 
leon entered  Berlin  as  a  conqueror  and  prilS 
h^paperblodcadeof  theBritishlsles.  ''^Zt 

no  French  navy  to  enfo«=e  it,  but  American  vessels 
dar  J^ot  sail  for  England  lest  they  be  snapp^ 
by  French  pnvateers.  The  British  Govermnent 
-agely  retaliated  with  further  prohibitiorTd 
Napoleon  countered  in  like  manner  until  n;  sea 


"FREE  TRADE  AND  SAILORS'  RIGHTO!"  I09 
was  safe  for  a  neutral  ship  «.d  the  United  States 
was  powerIe«i  to  ««,ert  its  rights.    Thomas  Jeffer- 
wn  as  President  used  as  a  weapon  the  Embai^o 
of  1807.  which  was,  at  first,  a  popular  measure 
and  which  he  justified  in  these  pregnant  sentences: 
The  whole  world  is  thus  laid  under  interdict 
by  these  two  nations,  and  our  own  vessels,  their 
cargoes,  and  crews,  are  to  be  taken  by  the  one  or 
the  other  for  whatever  place  they  mav  be  destined 
out  of  our  limits.    If.  therefore,  on  leaving  our 
harbors  we  are  cerUinly  to  lose  them,  is  it  not 
better  as  to  vessels,  cargoes,  and  seamen,  to  keep 
them  at  home?" 

A  people  proud,  independent,  and  pugnacious, 
could  not  long  submit  to  a  measure  of  defense  which 
was,  in  the  final  sense,  an  abject  surrender  to  brute 
force.     New  England,  which  bore  the  brunt  of  the 
embargo,  was  first  to  rebel  against  it.      Sailors 
marched  through  the  streets  clamoring  for  bread 
or  loaded  their  vessels  and  fought  their  way  to 
sea.    In  New  York  the  streets  of  the  waterside 
were  deserted,  ships  dismantled,  counting-houses 
unoccupied,  and  warehouses  empty.    In  one  rear 
foreign  commerce  decreased  in  value  from  $108- 
000.000  to  $22,000,000. 
After  fifteen  months  Congress  repealed  the  law, 


'^i; 


no       THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 

«ibrtitutmg  .  Non-I„tercou«e  Act  which  .u.- 
pended  trade  wth  Great  Britain  and  France  until 
their  offending  order,  were  repealed.     All  such 
meawre.  were  doomed  to  be  .'utile.    Word*  and 
document..  threaU  «,d  ai^menU  could  not  in- 
timidate  adverwrie.  who  paid  heed  to  nothing 
el.e  th«.  broadside,  from  line^f-battle  .hip.  or  the 
charge  of  battalion..    With  other  countrie.  trade 
could  now  be  opened.    Hopefully  the  hundred, 
of  American  .hip.  long  pent-up  in  harbor  winged 
rt  deep-laden  for  the  Baltic,  the  North  Sea.  and  the 
Mediterranean.    But  few  of  them  ever  returned. 
LJce  a  bngand.  Na^eon  lured  them  into  a  trap 
and  clo.ed  it.  advi.ing  the  Prussian  Government, 
which  wa.  under  hi.  heel:     "Let  the  American 
d»p.  enter  your  port..     Seize  them  afterward. 
You  .hall  deliver  the  cargoes  to  me  and  I  will  take 
them  in  part  payment  of  the  Prussian  war  debt  " 
Similar    order,    were    executed    wherever    hi. 
mail^  fi.t  reached,  the  pretext  being  repri«,l  for 
the  Non-Interco„r«,  Act.     More  than  two  hun- 
dred Aaencan  vcel.  were  lost  to  their  owners,  a 
ten-miUion-dolIar  robbery  for  which  France  paid 
«!  mdemmty  of  five  millions  after  twenty  years 
It  was  the  grand  climax  of  the  expio    Uion  which 
Amencan  commerce  had  been  compelled  to  endure 


"FREE  TRADE  AND  SAILOBS'  RIGHTS-  m 

.float  There  hnger.  today  in  many  a  co«.tw«e 
town  an  .nherited  di.Jike  for  Prance.  It  i.  a  leg.^ 
0/  that  far^ff  eata,t«.phe  which  beggared  m^ 

rt  wa,  .aid  of  thi.  virile  me«hant  marine  that  it 
th^ve  under  piUage  «.d  challenged  confirmation 
bUt«t.«  confirm  thi.  brave  paradox.  Tn  18,0. 
while  Napoleon  wa«  doing  his  worst,  the  deep-«J 
toxmage  amounted  to  901.019;  and  it  is  a  .Clar 
fact  that  m  proportion  to  population  this  w^to 

unt.lth,rty.seven  years  later.    It  ebbed  durinVthe 

War  of  1812  but  rose  again  with  peace  and  a  r«J 

and  lastmg  freedom  of  the  seas. 
Thb  second  war  with  England  was  fought  in 

behalf  of  merchant  seamen  and  they  played  a 
nolyacfvepartinit.  The  ruthless  impL'ment 
of  seamen  was  the  most  conspicuous  provocation, 
but  t  was  only  one  of  many.  Two  yea«  beforJ 
hostilities  were  openly  declar«l.  British  frigates 
were  virtually  blockading  the  port  of  New  York 

halting  andsearching  ships  as  theypleased.  making 
pmes  of  those  with  French  destinations,  stealing 
saJors  to  fill  their  crews,  waging  war  in  e;e,y^i' 


n«       THE  OLD  MERCHANT  BIARINE 

but  name,  and  enjoying  the  vort  of  it.    Amid- 
•hipman  of  one  of  them  merrily  related:    "Eveiy 
morning  at  daybreak  we  let  about  arre.ting  the 
progreM  of  all  the  vewel.  we  law,  firing  oif  gum 
to  the  right  and  left  to  make  every  .hip  that  wai 
running  in  heave  to  or  wait  unU!  we  had  leisure  to 
•end  a  boat  on  board  to  Me.  in  our  lingo,  what  she 
was  made  of.    I  have  frequently  known  a  doten 
and  sometimes  a  couple  of  dozen  ships  Ijing  a 
league  or  two  off  the  port,  losing  their  fair  wind, 
their  tide,  and  worse  than  all.  their  market  for 
many  hours,  sometimes  the  whole  day,  before  our 
search  was  complete." 

The  right  of  a  belligerent  to  search  neutral  ves- 
sels for  contraband  of  war  or  evidence  of  a  forbid- 
den destination  was  not  the  issue  at  sUke.    This 
was  a  usage  sanctioned  by  such  international  law 
«-  then  existed.    It  was  the  alleged  right  to  search 
for  English  seamen  in  neutral  vessels  that  Great 
Britain  exercised,  not  only  on  the  high  seas  but 
even  m  territorial  waters,  which  the  American 
Government  refused  to  recognize.     In  vain  the 
Oovemment  had  endeavored  to  protect  its  sailors 
from  impressment  by  means  of  certificates  of  birth 
and  citizenship.     These  documents  were  jeered  at 
by  the  English  naval  lieutenant  and  his  boarding 


"FREE  TRADE  AND  SAILOBS'  HlOHro."  ,„ 
»w«.  who  kidn.pp«l  fro„  the  fo«c«tIe  «.ch  -nl- 

«>ught  to  inform  .n  Americw  con,uI  of  hi.  ph>ht 
w«  I«hed  to  the  „«fi„g  „d  fl,^       /^' 

«  18W.  h„d  oonumed  the  „«„e.  of  «,  thou«u.d 
A«.e„ca„  ,a.lors  who  we,*  .3  much  ,hve.t^d 
pn«.ne™  aboard  British  men^-war  a.  if  thr^  h^ 
be^made  captive,  by  the  Dey  of  Algier..  0„e^ 
tt«e  .nculent.,  occurring  on  the  ship  BeUy  Cat 
^  Nathaniel  Silsbee.  while  at  uLJt  S^ 
w.ll^.erve  to  .ho.  how  thi.  brutal  busines.  1 

lying  in^rt  *"  °? itri"  r  ''"'"''  ''««*•  »•>« 
ship  '•ndravingthe^  Slu'rhT?-  'T'  "-^ 
proceeded  to  the  frigate  whlrej  f^"  ^^T  "■"  '="*'■ 
his  presence  was  info™!^  IT!   ^     ""  ^"'*"  ""^  i" 

frigate  thaT  X°S/^i:  tl|""''T'  "^  *'"' 
a  peremptory  order  f,^  k-  ""  °^  "'"P  ""dw 


114        THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 

KniLf ■  ;k  I'  T"!"^  '"  ™  ""'y  *°  recommend 
Hulen  to  that  protection  of  the  lieutenant  which  a  good 
seaman  de^rves,  and  to  submit  to  the  high-hande^  in- 
sult thus  offered  to  the  flag  of  my  counUy  which  I  had 
no  means  either  of  preventing  or  resisting. 

After  several  years'  detention  in  the  British  Navy 
Hulen  returned  to  Salem  and  lived  to  serve  on 
board  privateers  in  the  second  war  with  England. 
Several  years'  detention!     This  was  what  it 
meant  to  be  a  presssd  man,  perhaps  with  wife  and 
children  at  home  who  had  no  news  of  him  nor 
any  wa«es  to  support  them.    At  the  time  o*  the 
Nore  Mutiny  in  1797,  there  were  ships  in  the 
British  fleet  whose  men  had  not  been  paid  off  for 
eight,  ten,  twelve,  and  in  one  instance  fifteen  yeais. 
These  wooden  walls  of  England  were  floating  hells, 
and  a  seaman  was  far  better  off  in  jail.    He  wai 
flogged  if  he  sulked  and  again  if  he  smiled - 
flogged  until  the  blood  ran  for  a  hundred  offenses 
as  trivial  as  these.    His  food  was  unspeakably  bad 
and  often  years  parsed  before  he  was  aUowed  to 
set  foot  ashore.    Decent  men  refused  to  volunteer 
and  the  ships  were  filled  with  the  human  scum  and 
refuse  caught  in  the  nets  of  the  press-gang,  of 
Liverpool,  London,  and  Bristol. 
It  is  largely  forgotten  or  unknown  that  this 


"FREE  TRADE  AND  SAILOHS'  RIGHTS!"  lis 
system  of  retruiting  was  as  intolerable  in  England 
as  it  was  in  the  United  States  and  as  fiercely  re- 
sented.   Oppressive  and  unjust,  it  was  neverthe- 
less endured  as  the  bulwark  of  England's  defense 
against  her  foes.   It  ground  under  its  heel  the  veiy 
people  it  protected  and  made  them  serfs  in  order  to 
keep  them  free.    No  man  of  the  common  people 
who  lived  near  the  coast  of  England  was  safe  from 
the  ruffianly  press-gangs  nor  any  merchant  ship 
that  entered  her  ports.     It  was  the  most  cruel 
form  of  conscription  ever  devised.     Mob  violence 
opposed  it  again  and  again,  and  British  Ei     India- 
men  fought  the  King's  tenders  sooner  than  be 
stripped  of  their  crews  and  left  helpless.  'Feel- 
ing in  America  against  impressment  was  never 
more  highly  inflamed,  even  on  the  brink  of  the  War 
of  1812,  than  it  had  long  been  in  England  itself, 
although  the  latter  country  was  unable  to  rise  and 
throw  it  off.    Here  are  the  words,  not  of  an  angry 
American  patriot  but  of  a  modem  English  histo- 
rian writing  of  his  own  nation:'    "To  the  people 
the  impress  was  an  axe  laid  at  the  foot  of  the  tree. 
There  was  here  no  question,  as  with  trade,  of  the 
mere  loss  of  hands  who  could  be  replaced.    At- 
tacking the  family  in  the  person  of  its  natural 
•Th,  Pro,  ami  Afloat  md  AOore.  by  J.  R.  Hutchinwa. 


ne        THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 

wluch  the  gang,  were  the  tentadei^  struck  at  the 
ve,y  foundafon,  of  domestic  life  and  brought  to 
thousands  of  households  a  poverty  as  bitter  and 
a  gnrf  as  poignant  as  death.  .  .  .    The  mutiny  at 
the  Nore  brought  the  people  face  to  face  with  the 
appalhng  r«ks  attendant  on  wholesale  pressing 
whJe  the  war  with  America,  incurred  for  the  sole 
puTK,se  o    upholding  the  right  to  press,  taught 
them  the  lengths  to  which  their  rulers  were  stiL 
prepared  to  go  m  order  to  enslave  them." 


CHAPTER  VII 


THE  BHILUANx-  EilA  OF   1812 

American  privateering  in  1818  was  even  bolder 
and  more  successful  than  during  the  Revolution 
It  was  the  work  c'  a  race  of  merchant  seamen  who 
had  found  themselve.,,  who  were  in  tho  forefront  of 
the  world's  trade  and  commerce,  and  who  were 
equipped  to  challenge  the  enemy's  pretensions  to 
supremacy  afloat.    Once  more  there  was  a  -er« 
shadow  of  a  navy  to  protect  them,  but  they  had 
learned  to  trust  their  own  resources.    They  would 
send  to  sea  fewer  of  the  small  craft,  slow  and  poorly 
armed,  and  likely  to  meet  disaster.    They  were 
capable  of  manning  what  was.  in  fact,  a  private 
navy  comprised  of  fast  and  formidable  cruisers 
The  intervening  generation  had   advanced   the 
art  of  building  and  handling  ships  beyond  all  ri- 
valry,   and    England    grudgingly    acknowledged 
the,r  ability.    The  year  of  1812  was  indeed  but 
a  httle   distance  from   the   resplendent  modem 

117 


m. 


118        THE  OLD  MERCH,iNT  MAHINE 

era  of  the  Atlantic  packet  and  the  Cape  Horn 
cupper. 

Already  these  Yankee  deep-water  ships  could  be 
r«cogn.zed  afar  by  their  lofty  spars  and  snowy 
clouds  of  cotton  duck  beneath  which  the  slender 
hull  was  a  thiu  black  line.    Par  up  to  the  gleam- 
ing royals  they  carried  sail  in  winds  so  strong  that 
the  lumbering  English  East  Indiamen  were  hove 
to  or  snugged  down  to  reefed  topsails.    It  was  not 
recUessness  but  better  seamanship.     The  deeds 
of  the  Yankee  privateers  of  1818  prove  tl,:,  asser- 
tion to  the  hilt.    Their  total  booty  amounted  to 
thirteen  hundred  pri.es  taken  over  aU  the  Seven 
Seas  with  a  loss  to  England  of  forty  million  dollars 
in  ships  and  cargoe.s.    There  were,  all  told,  more 
Uian  five  hundred  of  them  in  commission,  but  New 
*.ngland  no  louger  monopolized  this  dashing  trade 
Instead  of  Salem  it  was  Baltimore  that  fmnisied 
the  largest  fleet  -  fifty-eight  vessels,  many  of 
them  the  fast  ships  and  schooners  which  were  to 
make  the  port  famous  as  the  home  of  the  Balti- 
more  clipper  model.    All  down  the  coast,  out  of 
Norfolk  Wilmington.  Charleston,  SavanmUi,  and 
New  Orleans,  sallied  the  privateers  to  show  that 
theirs  was,  in  truth,  a  seafaring  nation  ardently 
united  m  a  common  cause. 


THE  BRILLIANT  ERA  OF  1812  ii9 

Again  and  more  vehemently  the  people  of  Eng- 
tond  raised  their  voices  in  protest  and  lament,  for 
these  sauqr  sea-raiders  fairly  romped  to  and  fro 
m  the  Channel,  careless  of  pursuit,  conducting  a 
blockade  of  their  own  until  London  was  paying  the 
famme  price  of  fifty-eight  doUaw  a  barrel  for  flour 
*nd  It  was  publicly  declared  mortifying  and  dis- 
tressing that  "a  horde  of  American  cruisers  should 
be  allowed,  unresisted  and  unmolested,  to  take 
bum.  or  sink  our  own  vessels  in  our  own  inlets  and 
almost  m  sight  of  our  own  harbors."  ,  It  was  Cap- 
tarn  Thomas  Boyle  in  the  Cha^eur  of  Baltimore 
who  impudently  sent  ashore  his  proclamation  of  a 
blockade  of  the  United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland,  which  he  requested  should  be  posted 
m  Lloyd's  Coffee  House. 

A  wonderfully  fine  figure  of  a  fighting  seaman 
was  this  Captain  Boyle,  with  an  Irish  sense  of 
humor  which  led  him  to  haunt  the  enemy's  coast 
and  to  make  sport  of  the  frigates  which  tried  to 
catch  him.  His  Chasseur  was  considered  one  of  the 
ablest  privateers  of  the  war  and  the  most  beautiful 
v«wel  ever  seen  in  Baltimore.  A  fleet  and  grace- 
ful schooner  with  a  magical  turn  for  speed,  she 
mounted  sixteen  long  twelve-pounders  and  carried 
a  hundred  oflScers.  seamen,  and  marines,  and  was 


m 


1*0        THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 
never  outsailed  in  fair  wind,  or  foul.    "Out  of  sh«., 

tT  ""  *"°  '"'^«'  ''^'  "he  '.lipped  thCh 
cnn  e  .„  the  Chasseur,  Captain  Boyle  captured 
^hteen  valuable  n,erd.antmen.  It  was  such  ^ 
fi«.t  rove«  as  he  that  p^voked  the  AfZta 

coast  of  Ireland  from  Wexford  round  by  Cape 
Clear  to  Ca^ckfe,^,.  should  have  been  for  abl 
a  month  und^  the  unresisted  domination  of  a  few 

^dt^ul."  "  "•™  '^"'^'-  ^-'-•''e 
This  was  when  the  schooner  Syren  had  captured 

^r^K  !;?'"p'^'•''^^="^-«'«<^--C- 
fan,  burned  fourteen  English  vessels  in  the  EngS. 

B«dt,more  cruised  for  three  months  off  the7rish 
novered  at  her  leisure  in   the  Irish 


THE  BRILLIANT  ERA  OF  1818  igi 

Channel  and  made  coasting  trade  impossible;  anj 
when  the  Young  Wasp  of  Philadelphia  cruised  for 
SIX  months  in  those  same  waters. 

TVo  of  the  privateers  mentioned  were  first-class 
lighting  ships  whose  engagements  were  as  notable 
m  their  way.  as  those  of  the  American  frigates' 
which  made  the  war  as  illustrious  by  sea  as  it  was 
Ignominious  by  land.    While  off  Havana  in  181fi 
Captem  Boyle  met  the  schooner  St  Lav^ence  of 
the  Bntish  Navy,  a  fair  match  in  men  and  guns. 
The  Chasseur  could  easily  have  run  away  but  stood 
up  to  It  and  shot  the  enemy  to  pieces  in  fifteen 
mmutes.     Brave  and  courteous  were  these  two 
commanders,  and  Lieutenant  Gordon  of  the  St 
Inference  gave  his  captor  a  letter  which  read,  in 
part:    "In  the  event  of  Captain  Boyle's  becoming 
.  pnsoner  of  war  to  any  British  cruiser  I  consider 
It  a  tnbute  justly  due  to  hi.  humane  and  generous 
treatment  of  myself,  the  surviving  officers,  and 
crew  of  His  Majesty's  late  schooner  St.  Lawrence 
to  state  that  his  obhging  attention  and  watchful 
solicitude  to  preserve  our  effects  and  render  us 
comfortable  during  the  short  time  we  were  in  his 
possession  were  such  as  justly  entitle  him  to  the 
mdulgence  and  respect  of  every  British  subject  " 
The  Prtnce  de  Neurhdtel  had  the  honor  of  beating 


Ifi^JJ 


IM  THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MAHINE 
«ff  the  attack  of  .  forty-gun  British  frigate  -  «. 
«^o.  .econd  only  to  that  of  the  GeZ^  aZ 
y,rn  the  harbor  of  Fayal.  This  Z^^Z 
•  for«gn  name  h.-:icd  f«,m  New  YoA  andT^^ 
fortunate  a,  to  capture  for  her  owne«  th' ee  Z"Z 

„       J-  Ordronaux  on  the  quarter-deck,  .he  wL 
-^Nantudcet  Shoal,  at  noon  on  October^ 

guewed  -  and  a.  event,  proved  correctly  _  that 

she  fflu.t  be  a  British  frieate     <?),„  f        j 

be  thp  P-j      •        "•"»"«•     She  turned  out  to 

b«  th^Endy^ron.     The  privateer  had  in  tow  a 

rfo?c:?fTr'°"^*°««'*-*«''-'t.''"t:h 

wa.  forced  to  cast  off  the  hawser  late  in  the  after- 
noon and  make  every  effort  to  escape 

we^do:"".'''""  "'*'  "'•'  '"^  ''°''  *he  vessels 
we.e  dose  inshore.    Becalmed,  the  privateer  and 

^UmOrdronauxmighthaveputhiscrewonthe 
beach  m  boat,  and  abandoned  his  ship.    This  wa« 

therea«,nablecou«e.for.a.hehadsentinsrv«;^ 
pme  crew,  he  was  short-handed  and  «.„W  musT^ 
nomore  than  thirty-«.en  men  and  boy..  ^^ 

of  three  hundred  and  fifty  sailon,  and  ma  ines.  and 


THE  BRILLIANT  ERA  OP  1818  m 

in  size  and  fighting  power  .he  wa.  in  the  cUm  of 
the  American  frigates  Pre»ident  and  ContHtuHon 
Quite  unreasonably,  however,  the  master  of  the 
privateer  decided  to  await  eventa. 

The  unexpected  occurred  shortly  after  dusk 
when  several  boats  loaded  to  the  gunwales  with  a 
boardmg  party  crept  away  from  the  frigate.    Rve 
of  them,  with  one  hundred  and  twenty  men.  made 
a  concerted  attack  at  different  points,  alongside 
and  under  the  bow  and  stem.    Captain  Ordronaux 
had  told  his  crew  that  he  would  blow  up  the  ship 
with  aU  hands  before  striking  his  colors,  and  they 
believed  him  implicitly.    This  was  the  hero  who 
was  described  as  "a  Jew  by  persuasion,  a  French- 
man by  birth,  an  American  for  convenience,  sad 
so  dimmutive  in  stature  as  to  make  him  appear 
ridiculous,  in  the  eyes  of  others,  even  for  him  to 
enforce  authority  among  a  hardy,  weather-beaten 
crew  should  they  do  aught  against  his  will."    He 
was  big  enough,   nevertheless,  for  this  night's 
bloody  work,  and  there  was  no  doubt  about  his 
authority.    While  the  British  tried  to  cUmb  over 
the  bulwarks,   his   thirty-seven   men   and   boys 
fought  like  raging  devils,  with  knives,  pistols, 
cuUases.  with  their  bare  fists  and  their  teeth.' 
A  few  of  the  enemy  gained  the  deck,  but  the 


i 


-..,.;•;  V 


m        THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 

privMeersmen  turned  «d  killed  them.  Other, 
leaped  .b<«rd  «d  were  ^^fy  ^^^ 
American,  back,  when  the  .kipper  r«.  to  theLtch 
.bove  the  powder  „ag..ine.  w.Wng  .  ,i^t^ 
m.t^.«d  .wearing  to  drop  it  in  if  hi.  crew  .^ 

«en,ed  desperate.  But  .gain  they  took  their 
.fapper'.  word  for  it  and  rlhed  for  a  bloo^ 
struggle  which  won  .wept  the  deck. 

No  more  than  twenty  minute,  had  pa«ed  and 
the  battle  wa.  won.  The  enemy  wa.  begging  for 
quarter.     One  boat  had  been  .unk    Se  V^ 

^teda^ay^ledwithdeadandwoteJird'thl 

whom  only  eight  were  unhurt.  The  American  lo« 
wa.  seven  Med  and  twenty-four  wounded.^ 
Uurty.oneofhercrewofthirty-.even.  Yet  ^^^ 
hadnotg.venupthe.hip.    The  frigate  £;.rfy«  J 

tte  Pn„c.  *  iV^cAd*./  bore  away  for  Boston  witf 
a  freshenmg  breeze. 
Tbose  were  merchant  .eamen  ah.o  who  held 

through  that  moonlit  night  in  Payal  Road.,  in- 
acting  heavier  loi«es  than  were  suffered  in  any 
naval  action  of  the  war.    It  i.  .  story  Homeric^ 


THE  BRILLIANT  ERA  OF  18U         m 
«lmort  incredible  in  iu  detaili  wd  «,  often  re- 
peated that  it  «n  be  only  touched  upon  in  thi. 
brief  chronicle.    The  leader  wa.  «  kindly  featured 
man  who  wore  a  tall  hat.  .ide-whiskem.  and  a  tail 
coat.    His  portrait  might  easily  have  served  for 
that  of  a  New  England  deacon  of  the  old  school 
No  trace  of  the  swashbuckler  in  this  Captain 
Samuel  Reid.  who  had  bem  a  thrifty,  respected 
merchant  skipper  until  offered  the  command  of  a 
privateer. 

Touching  at  the  Azores  for  water  and  provisions 
m  September.  1814,  he  was  trapped  in  port  by  the 
ffreatseventy-four-gun  ship  of  the  line  Planiagenet 
the  thirty-eight-gun  frigate  Rota,  and  the  war- 
bng  Carnation.    Though  he  was  in  neutral  water, 
they  paid  no  heed  to  this  but  determined  to  de- 
«troy  a  Yankee  schooner  which  had  played  havoc 
with  their  shipping.   Four  hundred  men  in  twelve 
boats,  with  a  howitzer  in  the  bow  of  each  boat 
were  sent  against  the  General  Armstrong  i„  one 
flotilla.  But  not  a  man  of  the  four  hundred  gained 
her  deck.     Said  an  eyewitness:  "The  Americans 
fought  with  great  finnness  but  more  like  blood- 
thirsty savages  than  anything  else.    They  rushed 
mto  the  boats  sword  in  hand  and  put  every  soul 
to  death  as  far  as  came  within  their  power.    Some 


i~.i^ 


H 


>•»       THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MAMNB 
«rf  the  b«.U  were  left  without .  .u«Ie  m«,  to  ^w 
them,  other,  with  three  or  four.    The  n.o,t  that 
-«y  one  returned  with  wa,  .bout  ten.    Several 
boate  floated  aahore  full  of  dead  bodie.  For 

three  day.  after  the  batUe  we  we«  emp%ed  in 
buo^mg  the  d^  ,i..t  wadied  on  J,o«.  i  th^ 

Tli.  tragedy  coat  the  British  .quadron  one  hun- 

.nd  yy  ,n  wounded,  while  Captain  Reid  Io.t 
only  two  dead  and  had  .even  wounded.    He  wa. 

.r'"^.!.'"  "*"•*  "^"'^  -"^  '^"^  -hen  the 
«hip.  .tood  in  to  .ink  hi.  KAooner  with  their  bi« 
gun.,  but  the  honor,  of  war  belonged  to  hin,  and 
well^amrd  were  the  popular  tribute,  when  he.aw 
.We  ^a.n.  nor  wa.  there  a  word  too  much  in  the 
flond  toa.  :  "Captain  Reid -hi.  valor  ha.  .hed 
a  blaze  of  renown  upon  the  character  of  our 

bW^  ""^  "*"' '"  ^'""^  '  '"""^  °'  «*«"'«' 

^  It  i.  not  to  glorify  war  nor  to  rekindle  an  ancient 

J«:dthat.uchepi.ode«a.the«,arerecalledtomind 
These  men.  and  other,  like  them,  did  their  duty  a. 
1  ""^/o  them,  and  they  were  .ailor.  of  whom 
the  whole  Anglo-Saxon  race  might  be  proud  In 
the  cr..,.  they  were  American.,  not  privateersmen 


THE  BRILLIANT  ERA  OP  181«  i„ 

in  quest  of  plunder,  and  they  would  gladly  die 
woner  than  haul  down  the  Stan  and  Stripea.  The 
England  against  which  they  fought  waa  not  the 
England  of  today.  Their  honest  grievance!,  in- 
flicted by  a  Government  too  intent  upon  crushing 
Napoleon  to  be  fair  to  neutrals,  have  long  ago  been 
obliterated.  This  War  of  1812  cleared  the  vision 
of  the  Mother  Country  and  forever  taught  her 
Government  that  the  people  of  the  Republic  were, 
in  truth,  free  and  independent. 

This  lesson  was  driven  home  not  only  by  the 
guns  of  the  ConttUution  and  the  United  States,  but 
also  by  the  hundreds  of  privateers  and  the  forty 
thousand  able  seamen  who  were  eager  to  sail  in 
them.  They  found  no  great  place  in  naval  history, 
but  England  knew  their  prowess  and  respected  it.' 
Every  wihoolboy  is  familiar  with  the  duels  of  the 
Wasj,  and  the  Frolic,  of  the  Enterpriee  and  the 
Boxer:  but  how  many  people  know  what  happened 
when  the  privateer  Decatur  met  and  whipped  the 
Dominica  of  the  British  Navy  to  the  southward  of 
Bermuda? 

Captain  Diron  was  the  man  who  did  it  as  he 
was  cruising  out  of  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  in 
the  summer  of  1813.  Sighting  an  armed  schooner 
•lightly  heavier  than  his  own  vessel,  he  made  for 


II 


i 


128        THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MAEINE 
her  and  was  unperturbed  when  the  royal  ensign 
streamed  from  her  gaff.    Clearing  for  action,  he 
closed  the  hatches  so  that  none  of  his  men  could 
hide  below.     The  two  schooners  fought  in  the 
veiling  smoke  until  the  American  could  ram  her 
bowsprit  over  the  other's  stern  and  pour  her  whole 
crew  aboard.    In  the  confined  space  of  the  deck, 
almost  two  hundred  men  and  lads  were  slashing 
and  stabbing  and  shooting  amid  yells  and  huzzas 
Lieutenant  Barrett*,  the  English  commander  only 
twenty-five  years  old,  was  mortally  hurt  and  every 
other  oflScer,  excepting  the  surgeon  and  one  mid- 
shipman, was  killed  or  wounded.    Two-thirds  o« 
the  crew  were  down  but  s  jll  they  refused  to  sur 
render,  and  Captain  Diron  had  to  pull  down  the 
colors  with  his  own  hands.    Better  discipline  and 
marksmanship  had  won  the  day  for  him  and  his 
losses  were  comparatively  small. 

Men  of  his  description  were  apt  to  think  first  of 
glory  and  let  the  profits  go  hang,  for  there  was 
no  cargo  to  be  looted  in  a  King's  ship.  Other 
privateersmen,  however,  were  not  so  valiant  or 
quai-relsome,  and  there  was  many  a  one  tied  up  in 
London  River  or  the  Mersey  which  had  been  cap- 
tured  without  very  savage  resistance.  Yet  on  the 
whole  it  is  fair  to  say  that  the  private  armed  ships 


CaeVER,  OF  TBE  PaiVATEER 
AMEBIOA  •■ 


^«iyen  by  CUrlM«i  Clweva', 


m 


TBE  SHIP  "AltEBICA- 
^fomthrfWn„„.    Priv.t«,i„tl«W«, 


Water. 
IrWiadr 


li 


r  action,  lie 


128        THE  OLD  KERCTUNT  M.VRJMi.; 

lift  Hiid  wa,  liiijicnurbtd  whi-i    ff 
slrcauicd  from  her  naff      ( 

_)  .  r»        '  ■  ,    a,.^jyu,    lie 

«tewk4towi»«iwsfl5#^rta.aa«vi.  i«».iBamco«ild 

111.    (-wi»»«i.,oiur-   fought   in   the 


aiiiiosi  Tuo  h.uuami  im-ti  <i 

anj  stabbing  .niifl  <;hout;n.'  , 

l.iiijl<\i!anl  I" 

twoBty-fivf.  ycu,-, 

oUrt  officer,  excf-p'ing  Hi 

■sliipu'iin,  whi  ki'li: 

the  crew    v.-r,     ;,,.. 

rt-iidor,  ,: 

colors  wit!,  his  oftu  ha.r 

mjrk"m;insh:p  ]ia<!  wo- 


■;:(•*•  of  (he  (ietk, 
shing 

■u:dt-i%on]y 
'■'ii-  :i!oruah  iiurt  and  every- 

'■ni  '  u  to  :iur 

•^i!l  down  tlie 

I'line  and 

i  ;ii,ii  and  hia 


"    'iJ    :.  Ihiiik  first  of 
■''  -  '■■  )«"TO,V.  f,jr  thoi-f  v.-as 

-l»*»W  a^J  V>,.up  a4J  ,^•e^Mifl     .,1^,^,  w  V>dhuo1  adX 
Xbod-^  9ib  ol    .808r  .mIUkmM  .luofl  ™ioiiA\^'a^„b^a^'" 

■  '  ''lany  ;i  ;,nc  tipd  vi}j  in 
UuiUoii  Rivet  u,-  itt,.  Mer.-:  y  ;■  hich  had  been  cap- 
ture.! without  vi.rv  «....„„  ..;4^,^.  Yot  on  the 
"''"'"  it '^f""  .'Hvate  armed  ship. 


^^1 


I 


THE  BBILLIANT  EBA  OP  1814  m 

outfought  and  outsailed  the  ene;  ,  ^Impressively 
as  dad  the  few  frigates  of  the  American  Navy 

There  was  a  class  of  them  which  exemplified  the 
rapid  development  of  the  merchant  marine  in  a 
conspicuous  manner-  large  commerce  destroyers 
too  swrft  to  be  caught,  too  powerful  to  fear  the 
smaller  cruisers.    They  were  extremely  profitable 
busmess  ventures,  entrusted  to  the  command  of 
the  most  audacious  and  skillful  masters  that  could 
be  engaged.    Of  this  type  was  the  ship  ^mmca  of 
Salem,  owned  by  the  Crowninshields,  which  made 
twenty-s«prizes  and  brought  safely  into  port  prop- 
erty which  realized  more  than  a  million  dollars 
Of  this  the  owners  and  shareholders  received  six 
hundred  thousand  dollars  as  dividends.    She  was 
a  stately  vessel,  built  for  the  East  India  trade,  and 
was  generally  conceded  to  be  the  fastest  priva- 
teer afloat.    For  this  service  the  upper  deck  was 
removed  and  the  sides  were  filled  in  with  stout  oak 
timber  as  an  armored  protection,  and  longer  yards 
and  royal  masts  gave  her  a  huge  area  of  sail.    Her 
crew  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  men  had  the  exacting 
oigamzation  of  a  man-of-war,  including,  it  is  in- 
teresting to  note,  three  lieutenants,  three  mates  a 
saibng-master.  surgeon,  purser,  captain  of  marines 
gunners,  seven  prize  masters,  armorer,  drummer 


14' 


-\ '  '\ 


180       THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 

we  penalty  for  breaking  the  regulaUons. 
Dunng  her  four  cruises,  the  An^a  swooped 

ner  prey  mto  submission,  with  «  brush  now  and 

co«liaIchatbefw^n1hTr      '"  ^^'^  ^°"««  "f  « 
remarked:  ''''""'•' ^'^^  <«Pt»i»»  the  Briton 

felL  Y^^r"  v""*  ""■^'''^  '^-^^°*  °^  «>«t  in- 
Aithough  the  Treaty  of  Ghent  omitted  mention 


THE  BRILLIANT  ERA  OF  1814  is, 

of  the  imprewment  of  sailors,  which  bad  been  the 
burmng  issue  of  the  war,  there  were  no  more 
offenses  of  this  kind.  American  seafarers  were 
aafe  against  kidnapping  on  their  own  decks,  and 
they  had  won  this  security  by  virtue  of  their  own 
doubl^shotted  guns.  At  the  same  time  England 
Mted  the  curse  of  the  press-gang  from  her  own 
people,  who  refused  longer  to  endure  it. 

There  seemed  no  reason  why  the  two  nations 
havmg  finally  fought  their  differences  to  a  finish 
should  not  share  the  high  seas  in  peaceful  rival- 
ry: but  the  irritating  problems  of  protection  and 
reciprocity  survived  to  plague  and  hamper  com- 
mert^e.    It  was  difficult  for  England  to  overcome 
the  habit  of  guarding  her  trade  against  foreign 
invasion.     Agreeing  with  the  United  States  to 
waive  all  discriminating  duties  between  the  ports 
of  the  two  countries -this  was  as  much  as  she 
was  at  that  time  willing  to  yield.     She  still  in- 
sisted upon  regulating  the  trade  of  her  West  In- 
dies and  Canada.    American  East  Indiamen  were 
to  be  limited  to  direct  voyages  and  could  not  bring 
cargoes  to  Europe.     Though  this  discrimination 
angered  Congress,  to  which  it  appeared  as  lopsided 
reciprocity,  the  old  duties  were  nevertheless  re- 
pealed; and  then,  presto!  the  British  colonial  policy 


*   #3  J 


chants  with  W  /aces  UIH  ^'""^  '"*''- 

isome  were  for  retuH.*;         ..  "  °  "*  o*""- 

their  business.  XZl  '^'^'^'^^  ^'°'  «''-* 
honest  hes^.\^^,ZT  "  *'""^''  '"  '^^- 
'^orld',  trade      cT'f""""^'^^"^'''^^^^ 

the  water.  whereTel  ^       ''"''  ^^"^  «'=«'« 
exclaimed:    '•Zl    ^""^"^  ^^'"^^  lugubriously 

-nav,.i,Ha»ur"S:r'""'*^-™'''-' 
o'y  exists  „o  longer,  and  ..      ""T"*'"'  '"°"°P- 

Wers  are  .ta'^iror  ,2^    1  ""  """'"■ 
d'stant  lands.    Wel,«L   .      .     *  ademption  in 

vai:..itsaeti:et:r;::i:;«n-- 
--...eaandw^rs;;::^:-: 


THE  BRILLUNT  ERA  OF  UlS  133 

It  was  not  until  1849  that  Great  Britain  threw 
overboard  her  long  catalogue  of  protective  navi- 
gation  laws  which  had  been  piling  up  since  the 
time  of  Cromwell,  and   declared  for  free  trade 
afloat.    Meanwhile  the  United  SUtes  had  drifted 
m  the  same  direction,  barring  foreign  flags  from 
Its  coastwise  shipping  but  offering  full  exemption 
from  all  discriminating  duties  and  tonnage  duties 
to  every  maritime  nation  which  shou.u  respond  in 
lAe  manner.    This  latter  legWation  was  enacted 
in  1828  and  definitely  abandoned  the  doctrine  of 
protection  in  so  far  as  it  applied  to  American  ships 
and  sailors.    For  a  generation  thereafter,  during 
which  ocean  rivalry  was  a  battle  royal  of  industry, 
enterprise,  and  skill,  the  United  Sutes  was  para- 
mount   and  her  merchant   marine  attained   it. 
greatest  successes. 

There  is  one  school  of  modem  economists  who 
hold  that  th-,  seeds  of  decay  and  downfall  were 
planted  by  this  adoption  of  free  trade  in  1828. 
while  anotiier  faction  of  gentiemen  quite  as  es- 
timable and  authoritative  will  quote  facts  and 
figures  by  the  ream  to  prove  that  govemmaital 
policies  had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the 
case.  These  adversaries  have  written  and  are 
still  writing  many  volumes  in  which  they  almost 


i 


"^   .   ^  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 
invariably  lo«,  ♦!,«•.  .  "^«WfB 

however,  that «,  wl  v?  .      I     "^'P'^^le, 
'«»ter.  and  „,ore  Zo"      ,,  ^^  ''"'"  ^'"^  ^^^. 

'tey  ceased  t!^^^  "■"  ""?'"'•  '"^''-    ^«> 
they  let  the  trXan.    ;""*'"•■*'  °' '"Priority. 

%  the  turbuJenT^:S'^\  ?"  ^^e  farther  «de 
''hed  and  piracy   oThtt?.    ^"^  '"''  »''«'d- 

--n.h:pre^sst:;erjr'"r 

gunpowder  and  of  leMl,,^     i,  *^*  '*«''  of 

""-kets  wherever  ^^ t^aZ      ""''"^  "-"^ 
their  fceels.    Thev  J     ^  '  """"^h  to  float 

--h„fa:jj:^st::^r"^'"^*^ 

'-hich  gloried  in  action      V  '"""'^  '"'' 

^-  of  the  ninetS^r  J;J:  T  ""^  ""^ 

st.^  sailed  -Elizabeths,  rd^^^^^  "'^"^ 

On  the  hither  «de  of  18,2^^^**  ""'"*• 

b.theprivateerandthJfiri;Tr^ 
ngged  corsairs  had  been  h«n- L7;  *  '****"" 

in  the  harbor  of  All"   s^V  "  "  *^''''  '"^ 
Aigiers.  and  ships  needed  to  show 


.i»^i., 


THE  BRILUANT  ERA  OP  18U  m 

no  brouliides  of  cannon  in  the  Atlantic  trade. 
For  a  Ume  they  carried  the  old  armament  among 
the  lawleu  idanda  of  the  Orient  and  o£f  Spanish- 
American  coaita  where  the  vocation  of  piracy 
made  it«  laat  stand,  but  the  great  trade  routes  of 
the  globe  were  peaceful  highways  for  the  white- 
winged  fleets  of  all  nations.  The  American  seamen 
who  had  fought  for  the  right  to  use  the  open  sea 
were  now  to  display  their  prowess  in  another  way 
and  in  a  romance  of  achievement  that  was  no  less 
lai^e  and  thrilling. 


41 


,'.  ■* 


tuaocon  resohition  tbt  chaut 

(ANSI  and  ISO  TEST  CHART  No.  2) 


•liii      |2J 


_^  TIPPLED  IN/HGE    In 

a^g*-  '653  Eo5t  Mom  Street 

Sr^^  Rofheelef,  Na>  York        U609       uS* 

r.ja  (^'6)   462  -  0300  -  PMne 

^~  (716)  288-5989  -  Fo, 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE   PACKET   SHIPS   OF  THE    "BOAHmG   FORTIES" 

the  Western  Ocean,  that  the  pacJcet  ship,  won  the 
fi«t  great  contest  for  supremacy  and  knew  no 
nvals  unt.  the  coming  of  the  age  of  stean,  Je 
them  obsolete.  Thefr  era  antedated  that  of  the 
chpper  and  wa.  wholly  distinct.  The  Atlantic 
packet  was  the  earliest  liner:  she  made  regular 
Jimgs  and  carried  freight  and  passengers  instead 
of  trading  on  her  owners'  account  as  was  the 

trop.c  seas  and  the  breath  of  the  Pacific  trades, 
but  an  almost  incessant  battle  with  swinging 

Cr  !"'^^"^*''--  -»<'''.  'o^  «he  was  dnVen 
harder  m  all  weathers  and  seasons  than  any  other 
ships  that  sailed.  In  such  battering  service  as  this 
the  hnes  of  the  clipper  were  too  extremely  fine,  her 
spars  too  tall  and  slender.  The  packet  was  by  no 
means  slow  and  if  the  list  of  her  record  passages 

186  ^ 


^h  f 


aOUTH  STREBT.  ,BOM  MAIDEN  LANE,  mw  YOHg.  "tm 

I>«P«tm„t  of  the  N*,  Y„t  ftbiio  Sy 


rii 


ims 


■■  !r..  • 

It  WHS  on!;  ,:     ,, 

fbom  obsoletf-.    *i» 
dipper   -;^,j    ,^.,„     ,  , 


tpiiri  too  tnfr  and  sis-. 


•!;  tliiifi  ain  nfher 
■r  >U!S  by  nu 


M 


THE  PACKET  SHIPS  mt 

was  niperb,  it  wm  because  they  were  accomplished 
by  masters  who  would  sooner  let  a  sail  blow  away 
than  take  it  in  and  who  raced  each  other  every  inch 
of  the  way. 

They  were  small  ships  of  three  hundred  to  five 
hundred  tons  when  the  famous  Black  Ball  Line 
was  started  in  1816.    From  the  first  they  were  the 
ablest  vessels  that  could  be  built,  full-bodied  and 
stoutly  rigged.    They  were  the  only  regular  means 
of  communication  between  the  United  States  and 
Europe  and  were  entrusted  with  the  mails,  specie, 
government  dispatches,  and  the  lives  of  eminent 
personages.   Blow  high,  blow  low,  one  of  the  Black 
Ball  packets  sailed  from  New  York  for  Liverpool 
on  the  first  and  sixteenth  of  every  month.    Other 
lioes  were  soon  competing  —  the  Tied  Star  and  the 
Swallow  Tail  out  of  New  York,  and  fine  ships  from 
Boston  and  Philadelphia.    With  the  completion  of 
the  Erie  Canal  in  1825  the  commercial  greatness  of 
New  York  was  assured,  and  her  Atlantic  packets 
mcreased  in  size  and  numbers,  averaging  a  thou- 
sand tons  each  in  the  zenith  of  their  glory. 

England,  frankly  confessing  herself  beaten  and 
unable  to  compete  with  such  ships  as  these, 
changed  her  attitude  from  hostility  to  open  ad- 
miration.    She  surrendered  the  Atlantic  packet 


't 


188        THE  OLD  MEHCHANT  MARINE 
trade  to  American  enterprise,  and  British  mer- 
chantmen sought  their  gains  in  other  waters.    The 
Nav«ation  Laws  still  protected  their  commerce 
m  the  Far  East  and  they  were  content  to  jog  at 
a  more  sedate  gait  than  these  weltering  packets 
whose  skippers  were  striving  for  passages  of  a  fort- 
night, with  the  forecastle  doors  nailed  fast  and  the 
crew  compelled  to  stay  on  deck  from  Sandy  Hook 
to  Pastnet  Rock. 

No  blustering,  rum-drinking  taipaulin  was  the 
captain  who  sailed  the  Independence,  the  Ocean 
(/ueen,  or  the  Dreadnought  but  a  man  very  careful 
of  h.s  manners  and  his  dress,  who  had  been  selected 
from  the  most  highly  educated  merchant  service  in 
the  worid.   He  was  attentive  to  the  comfort  of  his 
passengers  and  was  presumed  to  have  no  other 
dut.es  or  deck  than  to  give  the  proper  orders  to  his 
first  officer  and  work  out  his  daily  reckoning.     It 
was  an  exacting,  nerve-racking  ordeal,  however 
demandmg  a  sleepless  vigilance,  courage,  and  cool 
judgment  of  the  first  order.    The  compensations 
were  large.    As  a  rule,  he  owned  a  share  of  the 
Aip  and  received  a  percentage  of  the  freights  and 
pass^e  money.    His  rank  when  ashore  was  more 
exalted  than  can  be  conveyed  in  mere  words.   Any 
normal  New  York  boy  would  sooner  have  been 


rt 


f?3 


THE  PACKET  SHIPS  139 

the  Un.ted  States,  and  he  knew  by  heart  the  «.ar. 
wg  chantey: 

It  is  of  a  flash  packet, 

A  packet  of  fame. 
She  is  bound  to  New  York 

And  the  Dreadnought's  her  name, 
hhe  IS  bound  to  the  wesfard 

Where  the  stormy  winds  blow 
Bound  away  to  the  wesfard. 

Good  Lord,  let  her  go. 

There  were  never  more  than  fifty  of  these  ships 
afloat,  a  tnfl.ng  fraction  of  the  American  deep- 
water  tonnage  of  that  day,  but  the  laurels  they 
won  were  .mmortal.     Not  only  did  the  English 
manner  doff  his  hat  to  them,  but  a  Parliamentary 
committee  reported  in  18S7  that  "the  American 
^hips  frequenting  the  ports  of  England  are  stated 
by  several  witnesses  to  be  superior  to  those  of  a 
similar  class  among  the  ships  of  Great  Britain  the 
commanders   and   officers   being  generally   con- 
sidered  to  be  more  competent  as  seamen  and  navi- 
gators and  more  uniformly  persons  of  education 
than  the  commanders  and  officers  of  British  ships 
of  a  similar  size  and  class  trading  from  England  to 
America. 


t 


m\ 


1 


I   f 


V     I 


MO       THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 

It  wo,  no  longer  a  rivalry  with  the  flag,  of  other 
n«t.on«  but  an  uncea.ng  ,erie.  of  con^^U  aZJ 
the  packet,  of  the  several  line,,  and  their  reco^ 
arouaed  far  „,ore  popular  excitement  than^^ 
he  great  steamers  of  thi.  century  were  chip.^^; 
off  the  m.nate,.  at  an  enonnou,  coal  co„,um,^o7 
^oward  a  five-day  passage.    Theirs  were  telt    oi 
realseamansh,p.andtherewerefewdisa,ters.  The 
packet  captain  scorned  a  towboat  to  haul  him  in- 
to the  s  ream  >f  the  wind  served  fair  to  set  all 
f""-/"' -^^ '•"""''P  '"^ -t  her  wharf.    Driving 
her  stern  foremost,  he  braced  his  yards  and  swunf 
her  head  to  sea.  clothing  the  masts  with  soaZ 
canvas  amxd  the  farewell  cheer,  of  the  crowd! 
which  hned  the  waterfront. 

Black  Ball  hner  Columbus,  Captain  De  Peyster 
and  the  .Wan.  Captain  Russell,  of  the  spS 
Dramatic  fleet,  in  1837.  The  sUke  was  $10,000  a 
side,  put  up  by  the  owners  and  their  friends.  The 
crews  were  picked  men  who  were  promised  a  bonus 
of  fifty  dollars  each  for  winning.  The  ships  sailed 
side  by  s,de  in  February,  facing  the  wild  winter 
passage,  and  the  Columbus  reached  Liverpool  in 

Ih' J7.f 'i!  "'"'  •"  "^*^"  '^«y*-  '^-  days 
ahead  of  the  Sheridan. 


THE  PACKET  SHIPS  ,4, 

He  crack  packet,  were  never  able  to  reel  off 
more  than  twelve  or  fourteen  knot,  under  the  mo,t 
Wable  condiUons.  but  they  we«  kept  g„.„g 
night  and  day.  and  some  of  them  maintained  their 
achedules  almost  with  the  regularity  of  the  early 
steamers.     The  Montezuma,  the  Patrick  Henry, 
and  the  Southampton  crossed  from  New  York  to 
Liverpool  in  fifteen  days,  and  for  years  the  In- 
dependence  held  the  record  of  fourteen  days  and 
s«  hours.    It  remained  for  the  Dreadncmght,  Cap- 
tain Samuel  Samuels,  in  1859,  to  set  the  mark  for 
packet  ships  to  Liven.ool  at  thirteen  days  and 
eight  hours. 

Meanwhile  the  era  of  the  matchless  clipper 
had  arrived  and  it  was  one  of  these  ships  which 
achieved  the  fastest  Atlantic  passage  ever  made 
by  a  vessel  under  sail.    The  James  Baines  was 
bu.lt  for  English  owners  to  be  used  in  the  Aus- 
tralian trade.    She  was  a  full  clipper  of  8515  tons 
twict    the  size  of  the  ablest  packets,  and  was' 
praised  as  "the  most  perfect  sailing  .ship  that  ever 
entered  the  river  Mersey."    Bound  out  from  Bos- 
ton  to  Liverpool,  she  anchored  after  twelve  days 
and  six  hours  at  sea. 

There  was  no  lucky  chance  in  this  extraordin- 
ary voyage,  for  this  clipper  was  the  work  of  the 


W 


Mt       THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 
greatest  AmericBn  builder,  Donald  McKay,  wheat 
the  same  time  designed  the  Lighlning  for  the  same 
owners.    This  clipper,  sent  across  the  Atlantic  on 
her  maiden  trip,  left  in  her  foaming  wake  a  twenty- 
four  hour  run  which  no  steamer  had  even  ap- 
proached and  which  was  not  equaled  by  the  fastest 
express  steamers  until  twenty-five  years  later  when 
the  greyhound  Arizona  ran  eighteen  knots  in  one 
hour  on  her  trial  trip.    This  is  a  rather  startling 
statement  when  one  reflects  that  the  Arizona  of 
the  Guion  line  seems  to  a  generation  still  living 
e  modern  steamer  and  record-holder.     It  is  even 
more  impressive  when  coupled  with  the  fact  that,  of 
the  innumerable  passenger  steamers  traversing  the 
seas  today,  only  a  few  are  capable  of  a  .speed  of 
more  than  eighteen  knots. 

This  clipper  Lightning  did  her  438  sea  miles  in 
one  day,  or  eighteen  and  a  half  knots,  better  than 
twenty  land  miles  an  hour,  and  this  is  how  the  sur- 
passing feat  was  entered  in  her  log,  or  official 
journal:  "March  1.  Wind  south.  Strong  gales; 
bore  away  for  the  North  Channel,  carrying  away 
the  foretopsail  and  lost  jib;  hove  the  log  several 
times  and  found  the  ship  going  through  the  water 
at  the  rate  of  18  to  I8I4  knots;  lee  rail  under  water 
and  rigging  slack.     Distance  run  in  twenty-four 


niE  PACKET  SHIPS  ^^^ 

hours,  430  miles  "    Ti.„  _ 

,'  ^S"***"  ^•'y  '"d  nineteen  .nd  .  h.lf  hou™ 
^««  Boston  Wht.  but  the  spectacula;;  3 

The  clipper,  however,  was  a  stranger  in  the 
AUanfc  and  her  chosen  courses  were  elsewhere 
The  records  „.ade  by  the  James  Buines  and    ie 
^''''"i:'  were  no  discredit  to  the  stanch,  uncon! 
querable  packet  ships  which,  year  in  and  yeL ^t 
he  d  the,r  own  with  the  steamer  lines  unt^S 
before  the  Civil  War.    It  was  the  boast  of  Captat 
Samuels  that  on  her  first  voyage  in  1853  the^^r 
r^9kt  reached   Sandy   Hook   as   the  Cuna^; 
Canaaa,  which  had  left  Liverpool  a  day  ahLT; 
her.  was  passing  ,n  by  Boston  Light.    Twice  she 
earned  the  latest  news  to  Eurfpe.  anHat 
;-ned    travelers   preferred    her    to    the  rj 

The  masters  and  officers  who  handled  these  ship, 
wthsuchmagnificentsuccessweretrue-blueAmer- 
y  "eamen  inspired  by  the  finest  traditions,  sue 
cessors  of  the  privateersmen  of  1812.  The  fore- 
castles, however,  were  filled  with  English,  Irish 


3l» 


If 


■'!!! 


I 


144  THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MAHINE 
and  Scandinavians.  American  lads  shunned  these 
ships  and,  in  fact,  the  ambitious  youngster  of 
the  coastwise  towns  began  to  cease  following  the 
sea  almost  a  century  ago.  It  is  sometimes  for- 
gotten that  the  period  during  which  the  best 
American  manhood  sought  a  maritime  career  lay 
between  the  Revolution  and  the  War  of  1812. 
Thereafter  the  story  became  more  and  more  one 
of  American  ships  and  less  of  American  sailors, 
excepting  on  the  quarter-deck. 

In  later  years  the  Yankee  crews  were  to  be 
found  in  the  ports  where  the  old  customs  survived, 
the  long  trading  voyage,  the  community  of  inter- 
est in  cabin  and  forecastle,  all  friends  and  neigh- 
bors together,  with  opportunities  for  profit  and 
advancement.    Such  an  instance  was  that  of  the 
Salem   ship  George,  built  at  Salem  in  1814  and 
owned  by  the  great  merchant,  Joseph  Peabody. 
For  twenty-two  years  she  sailed  in  the  East  India 
trade,  making  twenty-one  round  voyages,  with  an 
astonishing  regularity  which  would  be  creditable 
for  a  modem  cargo  tramp.    Her  sailors  were  native- 
born,  seldom  more  than  twenty-one  years  old,  and 
most  of  them  were  studying  navigation.    Forty- 
five  of  them  became  shipmasters,  twenty  of  them 
chief  mates,  and  six  second  mates.    This  reliable 


$1 


TBB  amp -aEOBOE."  OF  SALEM 


THK  Of-U  iMEP.CHANT  Jf 

■.■:),l,  S^'»ti.):,,o,-i,.„.       » • ,       ■     ■ 

si.;; 

til*-   tOUSlH.  I.MS    lo«  US  be.i;  , 


.uricricii.  iniiuhouu  ^^uslxl  a.  uiajilime:  ^.-arei-r  lay 
brtweeii  the  Revolution  and  the  War  of  1812. 
The-caftiT  the  sfory  became  more  and  mcwc  one 
of  Ar:  "l-«aaii!ii.TO  v,a{>itoao"  ■i\aaaa*s       <ti'mrs. 

J»M^;jrt»HA  .H.3^0,-<drtom.6  .M8I   .8„i,„i„,  ™Ic»-«l.W 
foin.l.-.    ,1,    ■'^''"'"'-^'''""'"'''^  "'':"'*) '«W'-t''''^in=«J=l«n. 

'"   '"  <-''-■  !■■:'         •  ■'■   '^voki  l-!;stlJ!nsSiirVii.;:|. 

the  long  (rndin,  '!„■  oomm..mty  of  inter- 

est in'eabin  and  fo... -castle,     li 

bors  tiHTftisor,   ,v;tL  otifioi-fi..!;;        ■ ,., 

'>.  that  of  tjic 
Saleni     ,hip  t.fvr^.;,   I 

OW/^crl    n_'.    the  TT^fil 

For  twgnt-. 

trade,    ■  -'  i'  ,,-       ■  , 

oi-i-  vvita  an 

'•  fi-editabie 

foran!odiri,v»r^:,tni.  aative- 

"■  i--'iii  _vx.ars  old,  and 
'  :  ''ig  navigation.     Forty- 

ii'V  o:  ilieii!  btv.aiio  sJLiijmiastfn  ;    :    . 

thief  mat.'S.  and  ah  -iwond  mn;  ,:  ,  '. 


-ffl 


THE  PACKET  SHIPS  ,44 

aearge  w«  in  short,  a  nautical  training-Khool  of 

^tt   .?1,"'  '^^  ^"""'^  -anTS^thi 
"fH  stuff  m  km  was  sure  of  advancement. 

Seven  thousand  .ailors  signed  articles  in  the 
counting-room  of  Joseph  Peabody  and  went  to 
jeam  h,s  eighty  ships  whid.  flew  the  hous^fl^ 
m  Calcutta   Canton.  Sumatra,  and  the  ports  7l 
Europe  unt,H844.    These  were  mostly  Ne^  4! 
and  boys  who  followed  in  the  footsteps  of  S 
fatten,   because   deep-water  voyages   were  still 
adventures"  and  a  ca«er  was  possible  under  a 
sys^  whch  was  both  congenial  and  patetd 
Brutaltreataentwastherarecception.   Flogging 
.tdl  s^ved  in  the  merchant  service  and  C 
ddended  by  captains  otherwise  humane,  but  a 
d^PJ.  no  matter  how  short-tempered,  would  be 
unUkely  to  abuse  a  youth  whose  parents  might  live 
^n^  same  street  with  him  and  attond7e  same 

TheAUanticpacketr  brought  a  different  order  of 
things,  which  was  to  be  continued  through  the  ciin 
P^  era^  Yankee  sailors  showed  no  Zetrl 
cold  and  storms  of  the  Western  Ocean  in  these 
oam^padcets  which  were  remorselessly  driven 
for  speed.  The  masters  therefore  took  what  tl^ 
could  «et.    All  the  work  of  rigging,  sail-^' 


m 


IM       THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 

«:raping,  painting,  and  keeping  a  ship  in  perfect 
repair  was  done  in  port  instead  of  at  sea.  as  was 
the  habit  in  the  China  and  California  clippers 
and  the  lore  and  training  of  the  real  deep-water 
sailor  became  superfluous.  The  crew  of  a  packet 
made  sail  or  took  it  in  with  the  two-fisted  mates 
to  show  them  how. 

From  these  conditions  waa  evolved  the  "Liver- 
pool  packet  rat. "  haio'  and  wild  and  drunken,  the 
prey  of  crimps  and  div^keepers  ashore,  brave  and 
toughened  to  every  hardship  afloat,  climbing  aloft 
m  his  red  shirt,  dungaree  breeches,  and  sea-boots 
with  a  snow-squall  whistling,  the  rigging  .heathed 
with  ice.  and  the  old  ship  burying  her  bows  in  the 
thundering  combers.    It  was  the  doctrine  of  his 
officers  that  he  could  not  be  ruled  by  anything 
short  of  violence,  and  the  man  to  tame  and  ham- 
:aer  him  was  the  "bucko"  second  mate,  the  test 
of  whose  fitness  was  that  he  could  whip  his  weight 
m  wild  cats.    When  he  became  unable  t.  maintain 
discipline  with  fists  and  belaying-pins.  he  was  de- 
posed for  a  better  man. 

Your  seasoned  packet  rat  sought  the  ship  with 
a  hard  name  by  choice.  His  chief  ambition  was  to 
kick  m  the  ribs  or  pound  senseless  some  invincible 
bucko  mate.    There  was  provocation  enough  on 


THE  PACKET  SHIPS  ,47 

bothsid«.    Officer,  had  to  taie  their  ships  to  sea 
and  strain  every  nerve  to  make  a  safe  and  rapid 

^hen  herded  aboa.d,  half  of  them  greenhorns 
perhaps,  who  couid  neither  reef  nor  s^^Z 
tal^y  was  the  one  argument  able  to  enforce  instant 
obedience  among  men  who  respected  nothing  else 

degraded  because  their  life  was  intolerable  to  d" 
cent  men.  It  followed  therefore  that  the  quart'" 
d«=k  employed  increasing  severity,  and.  as  the 
officers  authority  in  this  respect  wa,  unchecked 
and  unlmiited.  it  was  easy  to  mistake  the  h^Th^ 
tyranny  for  wholesome  discipline 
Eeenfor.ing  the  bucko  mate  was  the  tradition 

from  tte  landsman,  without  laws  and  usagVto 
pn^tect  h.m.  This  was  a  tradition  which.  flL^ 
tur.es  had  been  fostered  in  the  naval  serv"! 
and  ,t  survived  among  merchant  sailors  as  an  un- 
happy anachronism  even  into  the  twentieth  cen- 
toy.  when  an  American  Congress  was  reluctant 
to  bestow  upon  a  seaman  the  decencies  of  exist- 
ence enjoyed  by  the  poorest  laborer  ashore 

It  IS  m  the  nature  of  a  paradox  that  the  brilliant 
success  of  the  oacket  «Ji.Vo   •     j      ■      . 

pacKet  ships  m  dominating  the 


.1-1 


■4 


kii 


148       THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 
North  AUanUc  trade  should  have  been  a  factor  in 
the  decline  of  the  naUon's  maritime  prestige  and 
resources.    Through  a  period  of  forty  years  the 
pnde  and  confidence  in  these  ships,  their  builders 
and  the  men  who  sailed  them,  was  intense  and 
umversal.    They  were  a  superlative  product  of  the 
American  genius,  which  still  displayed  the  energies 
of  a  maritime  race.    On  other  oceans  the  situation 
was  no  less  gratifying.    American  ships  were  the 
best  and  cheapest  in  the  world.    The  business  held 
the  confidence  of  investors  and  commanded  an 
abundance  of  capital.    It  was  assumed,  as  late 
as  1840.  that  the  wooden  sailing  ship  would  con- 
tinue to  be  the  supreme  type  of  deep-water  vessel 
because  the  United  States  possessed  the  greatest 
stores  of  timber,  the  most  skillful  ouilders  and 
mechanics,  and  the  ablest  merchant  navigators 
No  industry  was  ever  more  efficiently  organized 
and  conducted.    American  ships  were  most  in  de- 
mand and  commanded  the  highest  freights.    The 
tonnage  in  foreign  trade  increased  to  a  maximum 
of  904.476  in  1845.    There  was  no  doubt  in  the 
minds  of  the  shrewdest  merchants  and  owners  and 
builders  of  th.  time  that  Great  Britain  would  soon 
cease  to  be  the  mistress  of  the  seas  and  must  con- 
tent herself  with  second  place. 


THE  PACKET  SHIPS  im 

It  was  not  considered  ominoiu  when,  in  1838, 
the  Admiralty  had  requested  proposals  for  a  steam 
service  to  America.    This  demand  was  prompted 
by  the  voyages  of  the  Siriu»  and  Oreat  Western. 
wooden-hulled  side-wheelers  which  thrashed  along 
at  ten  knots'  speed  and  crossed  the  AUantic  in 
fourteen  to  seventeen  days.     This  was  a  much 
faster  rate  than  the  average  time  of  the  Yankee 
packets,  but  America  was  unperturbed  and  sho'.^ed 
no  mterest  in  steam.    In  1889  the  British  Gov- 
emment  awarded  an  Atlantic  mail  contract,  with 
an  annual  subsidy  of  W25.000  to  Samuel  Cunard 
and  hjs  associates,  and  thereby  created  the  most 
famous  of  the  Atlantic  steamship  companies. 

Four  of  these  liners  began  running  in  1840  —  an 
event  which  foretold  the  doom  of  the  packet  fleets, 
ttough  the  warning  was  almost  unheeded  in  New 
YorkandBoston.  FouryearslaterEnoch  Train  was 
establishing  a  new  packet  line  to  Liverpool  with 
the  largest,  finest  ships  built  up  to  that  time,  the 

^'"''ingtonlrving.Anglo-American.OceanMcmarek, 
Anglo-Saxon.^udDanielWebster.  Otherprominent 
shippmg  houses  were  expandmg  their  service  and 
were  launching  noble  packets  until  1853.  Mean- 
while theCunard  steamers  were  increasingin  size  and 
speed,  and  the  service  was  no  longer  an  e:q>eriment. 


in       THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 

American  capital  now  began  to  awaken  ttom  it. 
drean,.  and  Edward  K.  Collin.,  managing  owner 
of    he  Dramatic  line  of  packet.,  determined  to 
rUIlenge  the  Cunarder.  at  their  own  game.  Aided 
by  the  Government  to  the  extent  of  $885,000  a 
year  as  «,bsidy.  he  put  afloat  the  four  magnificent 
.teamers,  Atlantic.  Pacific.  BaUic.and  ArcHc,  which 
were  a  day  faster  than  the  Cunarder,  in  erasing, 
and  reduced  the  voyage  to  nine  and  ten  days.   The 
Collms  line,  «>  auspiciously  begun  in  1850.  and 
prom>s.ng  to  give  th«  United  States  the  supremacy 
m  steam  which  it  had  won  under  sail,  w.s  singu- 
arly  unfortunate  and  short-lived.    The  Arctic  and 
the  Pacific  were  lost  at  sea.  and  Congress  withdrew 
ite  financal  support  after  five  years.    Deprived  of 
this  a.d.  Mr.  Collins  was  unalle  to  keep  the  enter- 
prise afloat  in  competition  with  the  subsidized 
Cunard  fleet.     In  this  mamier  and  with  little 
further  effort  by  American  interests  to  compete 
for  the  prwe.  the  dominion  of  the  Atlantic  passed 
mto  British  hands. 

The  packet  ships  had  held  on  too  long.  It  had 
been  a  stirring  episode  for  the  passengers  to  cheer 
m  midK>cean  when  the  lofty  pyramids  of  canvas 
swept  grandly  by  «>me  wallowing  steamer  and  left 
her  far  astern,  but  in  the  fifties  this  gallant  picture 


THK  PACKET  SHIPS  m 

became  leu  frequent,  and  a  sooty  banner  of  smoke 
on  the  horizon  proclaimed  the  new  era  and  the  ob- 
hteration  of  all  the  rushing  life  and  beauty  of  the 
tall  ship  under  sail.    Slow  to  realize  and  acknowl- 
edge  defeat,  persisting  after  the  steamers  were 
capturing  the  cabin  passenger  and  express  freight 
traffic,  the  American  ship-owners  could  not  visual- 
ize  this  profound  transformation.    Their  majestic 
clippers  still  surpassed  all  rivals  in  the  East  India 
and  China  trade  and  were  racing  around  the  Horn, 
making  n.w  records  for  speed  and  winning  fresh 
nautical  triumphs  for  the  Stars  and  Stripes. 

This  reluctance  to  change  the  industrial  n„d 
commercial  habits  of  generations  of  American  ship- 
owners was  one  of  several  causes  for  the  decad- 
ence  which  was  hastened  by  the  Civil  War.  For 
once  the  astute  American  was  caught  napping  by 
his  British  cousin,  who  was  swayed  by  no  senti- 
mental  values  and  showed  greater  adaptability  in 
adopting  the  iron  steamer  with  the  screw  propeller 
as  the  inevitable  successor  of  the  wooden  ship  with 
arching  topsails. 

The  golden  age  of  the  American  merchant  ma- 
rme  was  that  of  the  square-rigged  ship,  intricate, 
capncious.  and  feminine  in  her  beauty,  with  forty 
nimble  seamen  in  the  foreca  tie.  not  that  of  the 


i 


*lU 


14^       THi.  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 
metal  trough  with  an  engine  in  the  middle  ud 
mechMiiM  iweaUng  in  her  depth..    When  the  At- 
lantic packet  wa.  compelled  to  abdicaU.  it  waa  the 
beginning  of  the  end.   After  all.  her  maater  wa.  the 
ficlde  wind,  for  a  .larfiing  outward  pamge  might 
be  followed  by  week,  of  beating  home  to  the  we.t- 
ward.    Steadily  forging  ahead  to  the  beat  of  her 
paddle,  or  the  thraah  of  her  «:rew.  the  .Uamer 
even  of  that  day  wa.  far  more  dependable  than  the 
.ailing  vewel.    The  lAffhtning  clipper  might  run  a 
hundred  mile,  farther  in  twenty-four  hour,  than 
ever  a  .teamer   had    done,   but  .he  could  not 
maintain  this  metebric  buwt  of  speed.    Upon  the 
heaving  surface  of  the  Western  Ocean  there  was 
enacted  over  again  the  fable  of  the  hare  and  the 
tortoiie. 

Mo.t  of  the  famous  chanteys  were  bom  in  the 
packet  «>rvice  and  .houted  a.  working  chonue.  by 
the  tars  of  thi.  Western  Ocean  before  the  chantey- 
man  perched  upon  a  capstan  and  led  the  refrain 
in  the  clipper  trade.  You  ,nll  find  their  origin 
unmi.takable  in  such  lines  as  thew: 

As  I  wa.  B-waUdng  down  Botherhite  Street, 

'Way.  ho.  blow  the  man  down; 
A  pretty  young  creature  I  chanced  for  to  meet, 

Gxve  me  w>me  time  to  blow  the  man  down.  ' 


THE  PACKET  SHIPS  m 

Soon  we'll  be  in  Loodoo  City, 

Blow,  boyt,  blow. 
And  we  the  gab  all  drened  w  pratt*. 

Blow,  my  bully  boy«,  blow. 

Hwnting  melodlei.  folk^ng  «  truly  «  that  of 
the  piMtation  negro,  they  vwuhed  from  the  m. 
with  •  breed  of  men  who.  for  .11  their  fauiU.  pc- 
•eued  the  valor  of  the  Viking  and  the  fortitude  of 
the  Spartan.  Outcaata  aihore-  which  meant  to 
them  only  the  dance  hall*  of  Cherry  Street  and  the 
«n>g-ahop.  of  Ratclifle  Road  -  they  had  virtue, 
that  were  a.  gr«at«  their  failings.  Acroaalhein- 
tervening  year.,  ^th  a  patho.  indefinable,  come 
the  lovely  .train,  of 

Shenandoah.  I'U  ne'er  foi|et  yon. 

Away,  ye  rolling  river. 

Till  the  day  I  die  I'll  love  you  ever. 
Ah,  ha,  we're  bound  away. 


V* 


CHAPTER  IX 


fVi 


m 


THE  STATELY  CLIPPER  AITO  HER  OLOHT 

The  American  clipper  ship  was  the  result  of  an 
evolution  which  can  be  traced  back  to  the  swift 
privateers  which  were  built  during  the  War  of  1812. 
In  this  type  of  vessel  the  shipyards  of  Chesapeake 
Bay  excelled  and  their  handiwork  was  known 
as  the  "Baltimore  clipper,"  the  name  suggested 
by  the  old  English  verb  which  Diyden  uses  to  de- 
scribe the  flight  of  the  falcon  that  "clips  it  down 
the  wind."     The  essential  difference  between  the 
clipper  ship  und  other  kinds  of  merchant  craft  was 
that  speed  and  not  capacity  became  the  chief  -con- 
sideration.   This  was  a  radical  departure  for  large 
vessels,  which  in  all  maritime  histoiy  had  been 
designed  with  an  eye  to  the  number  of  tons  they 
were  able  to  carry.    More  finely  molded  lines  had 
hitherto  been  found  only  in  the  much  smaller 
French  lugger,  the  Mediterranean  galley,  the  Amer- 
ican  schooner. 

IS* 


t 


U'^ 


THE  CUPPER  AND  HER  GLORY   IM 

To  borrow  the  lines  of  these  fleet  and  graceful 
models  and  apply  them  to  the  design  of  a  deep- 
water  ship  was  a  bold  conception.     It  was  first 

attempted  by  IsaacMcKim,aBaltimoremerchant. 
who  ordered  Lis  builders  in  1832  to  reproduce  as 
closely  as  possible  the  superior  sailing  qualities  of 
the  renowned  clipper  brigs  and  schooners  of  their 
own  port.     The  result  was  the  Ann  McKim,  of 
nearly  five  h.indred  tons,  the  first  Yankee  clipper 
ship,  and  distinguished  as  such  by  her  long,  easy 
water-lines,  low  free-board,  and  raking  stem.    She 
was  built  and  finished  without  regard  to  cost, 
copper-sheathed,  the  decks  gleaming  with  brass^ 
work  and  mahogany  fittings.    But  though  she  was 
a  very  fast  and  handsome  ship  and  the  pride  of  her 
owner,  the  Ann  McKim  could  stow  so  little  cargo 
that  shipping  men  regarded  her  as  unprofitable 
and  swore  by  their  full-bodied  vessels  a  few  years 
longer. 

That  the  Ann  McKim,  however,  influenced  the 
ideas  of  the  most  progressive  builders  is  very 
probable,  for  she  was  later  owned  by  the  New  York 
firm  of  Rowland  and  Aspinwall,  who  placed  an 
order  for  the  first  extremely  sharp  clipper  ship  of 
the  era.  This  vessel,  the  Rainbow,  was  designed  by 
John  W.  Griflfeths,  a  marine  architect,  who  was  a 


m\ 


■ 


166        THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MAHINE 
pioneer  in  that  he  studied  shipbuilding  as  a  science 
instead  of  working  by  rule-of-thumb.    The  Rain, 
bow,  which  created  a  sensation  while  on  the  stocka 
because  of  her  concave  or  hollowed  lines  for- 
ward, which  defied  all  tradition  and  practice,  was 
launched  in  1845.   She  was  a  more  radical  innova- 
tion  than  the  Ann  McKim  but  a  successful  one, 
for  on  her  second  voyage  to  China  the  Rainbow 
went  out  against  the  nortiaeast  monsoon  in  niuety- 
two  days  and  came  home  in  eighty-eight,  a  record 
which  few  ships  were  able  to  better.    Her  com- 
mander, Captain  John  Land,  declared  her  to  be  the 
fastest  ship  in  the  world  and  there  were  none  to 
dispute  him. 

Even  the  Rainbow,  however,  was  eclipsed  when 
not  long  afterward  Howland  and  Aspinwall,  now 
converted  to  the  clipper,  ordered  the  Sea  Witch 
to  be  built  for  Captain  Bob  Waterman.  Among 
all  the  spK^did  skippers  of  the  time  he  was  the 
most  dashin,^  figure.  About  his  briny  memory 
cluster  a  hundred  yams,  some  of  them  true,  others 
legendary.  It  has  been  argued  that  the  speed  of 
the  clippers  was  due  more  to  the  men  who  com- 
manded them  than  to  their  hulls  and  rigging,  and 
to  support  the  tht  ory  the  career  of  Captain  Bob 
Waterman  is  quoted.   He  was  first  known  to  fame 


THE  CLIPPER  AND  HER  GLORY        W7 
in  the  old  Natchez,  which  was  not  a  clipper  at  all 
and  was  even  rated  aa  slow  while  carrying  cotton 
from  New  Orleans  to  New  York.    But  Captain 
Bob  took  this  full-pooped  old  packet  ship  around 
the  Horn  and  employed  her  in  the  China  tea  trade. 
The  voyages  which  he  made  in  her  were  all  fast, 
and  he  crowned  them  with  the  amazing  run  of 
seventy-eight  days  from  Canton  to  New  York,  just 
one  day  behind  the  swiftest  cupper  passage  ever 
sailed  and  which  he  himself  performed  in  the  Sea 
Witch.    Incredulous  mariners  s-'mply  could  not 
explain  this  feat  of  the  Natchez  and  suggested 
that  Bob  Waterman  must  have  brought  the  old 
hooker  home  by  some   new   route   of  his   own 
discovery. 

Captain  Bob  had  won  a  reputation  for  discipline 
as  the  mate  of  a  Black  Ball  liner,  a  rough  school, 
and  he  was  not  a  mild  man.  Ashore  his  personality 
was  said  to  have  been  a  most  attractive  one,  but 
there  is  no  doubt  that  afloat  he  worked  the  very 
souls  out  of  his  sailors.  The  rumors  that  he  fright- 
fully abused  them  were  not  current,  however,  until 
he  took  the  Sea  Witch  and  showed  the  worid  the 
fastest  ship  under  canvas.  Low  in  the  water,  with 
black  hull  and  gilded  figurehead,  she  seemed  too 
small  to  support  her  prodigious  cloud  of  sail.    For 


■^ 


us  THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 
her  there  were  to  be  no  leisurely  voyages  with 
CapUin  Bob  Waterman  on  the  quarter-deck. 
Home  from  Canton  she  sped  in  seventy-seven  days 
and  then  in  seventy-nine  -  records  which  were 
never  surpassed. 

With  what  consummate  skill  and  daring  this 
master  mariner  drove  his  ship  and  how  the  race  of 
hardy  sailors  to  which  he  belonged  compared  with 
those  of  other  nations  may  be  descried  in  the  log 
of  another  of  them,  Captain  Philip  Dumaresq, 
homeward  bound  from  China  in  1849  in  the  clipper 
Great  Britain.     Three  weeks  out  from  Java  Head 
she  had  overtaken  and  passed  seven  ships  heading 
the  same  way,  and  then  she  began  to  rush  bv  them 
in  one  gale  after  another.     Her  log  records  her 
exploits  in  such  entries  as  these:  "Passed  a  ship 
under  double  reefs,  we  with  our  royals  and  stud- 
d-.ngsails  set.  .  .  .     Passed  a  ship  laying-to  under 
a  close-reefed  maintopsail.  .  .  .     Split  all  three 

topsails  and  had  to  heave  to Seven  vessels 

in  sight  and  we  outsail  all  of  them.  .  .  .  Under 
double-reefed  topsails  passed  several  vessels  hove- 
to."  Much  the  same  record  might  be  read  in  the 
'og  of  the  medium  clipper  Florence —  and  it  is 
the  same  story  of  carrying  sail  superbly  on  a 
ship  which  had  been  built  to  stand  up  under  if 


THE  CLIPPER  AND  HER  GLORY        159 

-Passed  two  barks  under  reefed  courses  and  close- 
reefed  topsails  standing  the  san^e  way.  we  ^ 
royals  and  topgallant  studding-sails."  L  "PaTld 
a  sh,p  under  topsails,  we  with  our  royals  set."  p^ 
eleven  weeks  "the  topsail  halliards  were  start^ 
only  once  to  take  in  a  single  reef  for  a  few 
hours.       It  „      ,  ,„^,i^.„^   ^^^^^^^^^   ^        w 

that,  seventeen  days  o.it  from  Shanghai,  the  Flor- 

ZZ  ^"^'J  ""'"'-^  "■*'•  '""^  ^"«"«»'  ^hip  John 
^^'^"'  '''"-  --^  ^-'J  thirteen  days  befo.^ 

tee!r  "°?''  '""*'  '■"  '•"  '"■^*°^  °f  th«  nine- 
eenth  century  occurred  within  the  same  year, 

1849.  to  open  new  fields  of  trade  to  the  Yanked 
c^.pper  One  of  these  was  the  repeal  of  the  BrS 
Nav,gat.on  Laws  which  had  given  English  ships  a 
^.onopoly  of  the  trade  between  London  and  the 
Bnfsh  East  Indies,  and  the  other  was  the  dt 
cove.y  of  gold  in  California.  After  centuries  of 
pomp  and  power,  the  great  East  India  Company 

im7''ir''1  °'  '"^  '"*  ^'^•='"^'-  ^^^^  afloat 
11!^  .  ^'^        °"'-^"«''*^-^'"'*'°««=hantmen 

cI  .  T  T''*'  ''^  ^"*'^''  — -«  with 
Ch  na  and  India  and  wer«  sold  or  broken  up.  All 
Bnt.sh  sh.ps  were  now  free  to  engage  in  this  trade, 
but  the  spint  and  customs  of  the  old  regime  still 


160       THE  OLD  MEBCHANT  SiARINE 

strongly  survived.  Flying  the  hotue-flagi  of  pri- 
vate  owners,  the  East  Indiamen  and  China  tea 
ships  were  still  built  and  manned  like  frigates,  ibw. 
comfortable,  snugging  down  for  the  night  under 
reduced  sail.  There  was  no  competition  to  arouse 
them  until  the  last  barrier  of  the  Navigation  Laws 
was  let  down  and  they  had  to  meet  the  Yankee 
clipper  with  the  tea  trade  as  the  huge  stake. 

Then  at  last  it  was  farewell  to  the  gallant  old 
Indiaman  and  her  ornate,  dignified  prestige.  With 
s  sigh  the  London  Time*  confessed:  "We  must 
run  a  race  with  our  gigantic  and  unshackled  rival. 
We  must  set  our  long-practised  skill,  our  steady 
industry,  and  our  dogged  determination  against 
his  youth,  ingenuity,  and  ardor.  Let  our  ship- 
builders and  employers  take  warning  in  time. 
There  will  always  be  an  abundant  supply  of  vessels 
good  enough  and  fast  enough  for  short  voyages. 
But  we  want  fast  vessels  for  the  long  voyages 
which  otherwise  will  fall  into  American  hands." 

Before  English  merchants  could  prepare  them- 
selves for  these  new  conditions,  the  American 
clipper  Oriental  was  loading  in  1850  at  Hong  Kong 
with  tea  for  the  London  market.  Because  of  her 
reputation  for  speed,  she  received  freightage  of  six 
pounds  sterling  per  ton  while  British  ships  lode 


THE  CUPPEH  AND  HER  GLORV        lei 
at  anchor  with  empty  hold,  or  were  glad  to  «.il 
at  three  pound,  ten  per  ton.     Captain  HeodoH, 
Palmer  dehvered  his  sixteen  hundred  tons  of  tea 
in  the  West  India  Docks.  London,  after  a  crack 
passage  of  ninety-one  days  which  had  never  been 
equaled.    H.s  clipper  earned  $48,000.  or  two-thirds 
of  whac  ,t  had  cost  to  build  her.    Her  arrival  in 
lx.ndon  created  a  profound  impression.    The  port 
had  seen  nothing  like  her  for  power  and  speed; 
her  skysa.1  yards  soared  far  above  the  other  ship- 
ping:  the  cut  of  her  snowy  canvas  was  faultless;  all 
clumsy,  needless  top-hamper  had  been  done  away 
with;  and  she  appeared  to  be  the  last  word  in  de- 
sign and  construction,  as  lean  and  fine  and  spirited 
as  a  race-horse  in  training. 

This  new  competition  dismayed  British  shipping 
unt,  It  could  rally  and  fight  with  similar  weapoZ 

Thetechmcal  journal.  iVa»a/S««u«,  acknowledged 
that  the  tea  trade  of  the  London  markets  had 
passed  almost  out  of  the  hands  of  the  English 
ship-owner,  and  that  British  vessels,  well-manned 
and  well-found,  were  known  to  lie  for  weeks  in  the 
harbor  of  Foo-chow.  waiting  for  a  cargo  and  see- 
ing American  clippers  come  in.  load,  and  sail  im- 
mediately with  full  cargoes  at  a  higher  freight 
than  they  could  command.   Even  the  Government 


J,; 


to 


162        THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 

viewed  the  loss  of  trade  with  concern  and  sent  ad- 
miralty draftsmen  to  copy  the  lines  of  the  Orimtal 
and  Challenge  while  they  were  in  drydock. 

British  clippers  were  soon  afloat,  somewhat 
different  in  model  from  the  Yankee  ships,  but  very 
fast  and  able,  and  racing  them  in  the  tea  trade 
until  the  Civil  War.    With  them  it  was  often  nip 
and  tuck,  as  in  the  contest  between  the  English 
Lord  of  the  Isles  and  the  American  clipper  bpfk 
Maurt,  in  1856.    The  prize  was  a  premium  of  one 
pound  per  ton  for  the  first  ship  to  reach  London 
with  tea  of  the  new  crop.    Ihe  Lord  of  the  Isles 
finished  loading  and  sailed  four  days  ahead  of  the 
Maury,  and  after  thirteen  thousand  miles  of  ocean 
they  passed  Gravesend  within  ten  minutes  of  each 
other.    The  British  skipper,  having  the  smartest 
tug  and  getting  his  ship  first  into  dock,  won  the 
honors.    In  a  similar  race  between  the  American 
Sea  Serpent  and  the  English  Crest  of  ihe  Wave,  both 
ships  arrived  off  the  Isle  of  Wight  on  the  same  day. 
It  was  a  notable  fact  that  the  Lord  of  the  Isles  was 
the  first  tea  clipper  built  of  iron  at  a  date  when  the 
use  of  this  stubborn  material  was  not  yet  thought 
of  by  the  men  who  constructed  the  splendid  wood- 
en ships  of  America. 
For  the  peculiar  requirements  of  the  tea  trade. 


Ji 


THE  CUPPER  AND  HER  GLORY       »» 
EiiglUh  maritime  talent  wa.  quick  to  perfect  a 
dipper  type  which,  .mailer  than  the  great  Yankee 
skysail-yarder,  was  nevertheless  most  admirable 
for  ,ts  beauty  and  performance.    On  both  sides 
of  the  Atlantic  partizans  hotly  championed  their 
respective  fleets.    In  1852  the  American  Naviga- 
tion Club,  organized  by  Boston  merchants  and 
owners,  challenged  the  shipbuilders  of  Great  Brit- 
am  to  race  from  a  port  in  England  to  a  port  in 
Chma  and  return,  for  a  stake  of  $50,000  a  side 
ships  to  be  not  under  eight  hundred  nor  over  twelve 
hundred  tons  American  register.    The  challenge 
was  aimed  at  the  Stornaway  and  the  Chrysolite,  the 
two  clippers  that  were  known  to  be  the  fastest  ships 
under  the  British  flag.    Though  this  sporting  de- 
fiance caused  lively  discussion,  nothing  came  of 
It.  and  it  was  with  i  spirit  even  keener  that  Samp- 
son and  Tappan  of  Boston  offered  to  match  their 
Nightingale  for   the  same  amount   against  any 
clipper  afloat,  British  or  American. 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  Yankee  enterprise  had 
set  the  pace  in  the  tea  trade,  within  -  few  years 
after  1850  England  had  so  successfully  mastered 
the  art  of  building  these  smaller  clippers  that  the 
honors  were  fairly  divided.  The  American  owners 
were  diverting  their  energies  to  the  more  lucrative 


I 

1 


0 


hi 


t''     I 


I 


164  THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 
trade  in  larger  ahips  sailing  around  the  Horn  to 
San  Francisco,  a  long  road  which,  as  a  coastwise 
voyage,  was  forbidden  to  foreign  vessels  under  the 
uavigation  laws.  After  the  Civil  War  the  fastest 
tea  clippers  flew  the  British  flag  and  into  the  seven- 
ties they  survived  the  competition  of  stenm,  racing 
among  themselves  for  the  premiums  awarded  to 
the  quickest  dispatch.  No  more  of  these  beautiful 
vessels  were  launched  after  1869,  and  one  by  one 
they  vanished  into  other  trades,  overtaken  by  the 
same  fate  which  had  befallen  the  Atlantic  packet 
and  conquered  by  the  cargo  steamers  which  filed 
through  the  Suez  Canal. 

Until  1848  San  Francisco  had  been  a  drowsy 
little  Mexican  tTad::ig-post,  a  huddle  of  adobe  huts 
and  sheds  where  American  ships  collected  hides  — 
vividly  described  in  Two  Years  Before  the  Mast 
—  or  a  whaler  called  for  wood  and  water.  Dur- 
ing the  year  preceding  the  frenzied  migration  of 
the  modem  Argonauts,  only  two  merchant  ships, 
one  bark  and  one  brig,  sailed  in  through  the 
Golden  Gate.  In  the  twelve  months  following, 
775  vessels  cleared  from  Atlantic  ports  for  San 
Francisco,  besides  the  rush  from  other  countries, 
and  nearly  fifty  thousand  passengers  scrambled 
ashore  to  dig  for  gold.    Crews  deserted  their  ships, 


THE  CLIPPER  AND  HEK  GLORY       m 
leaving  them  unable  to  go  to  iea  again  for  lade  of 
men.  and  m  consequence  a  hundred  of  them  wen 
usedjw  storehouses,  hotels,  and  hospitals,  or  else 
rotted  at  their  moorings.     Sailor,  by  hundreds 
jumped  from  the  forecastle  without  w«Ung  to 
.tow  the  sails  or  receive  their  wage..     Though 
offered  as  much  as  two  hundred  dollars  a  month  to 
sign  again,  they  jeered  at  the  notion.   Of  this  great 
fleet  at  San  Francisco  in  1849.  it  was  a  lucky  .Up 
that  ever  left  the  harbor  again. 

It  seemed  as  if  the  whole  world  were  bound  to 
California  and  almost  overnight  there  w«i  created 
the  wildest,  most  extravagant  demand  for  trans- 
portation known  to  history.     A  clipper  costing 
«70.000  could  pay  for  he«elf  in  one  voyage,  with 
freights  at  sixty  dollars  a  ton.    This  gold  stampede 
m«ht  last  but  a  little  while.    To  take  instant  ad- 
vantage  of  it  was  the  thing.   The  fastest  ships,  and 
as  many  of  them  as  could  be  built,  would  skim 
the  cream  of  it.    This  explains  the  brief  and  iUus- 
trious  era  of  the  California  clipper,  one  hundred 
and  sixty  of  which  were  launched  from  1850  to 
1854.    The  shipyards  of  New  York  and  Boston 
were  crowded  with  them,  and  they  graced  the  keel 
blocks  of  the  historic  old  ports  of  New  England 
-Medford.  Mystic,  Newburyport.  Portsmouth. 


fl 


i 


106       THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 
Pbrtland.  Rockland,  and  Bath  -  wherever  the 
timber  and  the  .hipwrighU  could  be  aMembled 

Until  that  time  there  had  been  few  «hipi  afloat 
a.  laitre  «a  a  thousand  ton..    The«.  were  of  a  new 
type,  rapidly  increawd  to  fifteen  hundred,  two 
thousand  tons,  and  over.    They  presented  new  and 
difficult  problem*  in  spars  and  rigging  able  to  with- 
stand the  strain  of  immense  areas  of  canvas  which 
climbed  two  hundred  feet  to  the  skysail  pole  and 
which,  with  lower  studdingsails  set,  spread  one 
hundred  and  sixty  feet  from  boom-end  to  boom- 
end     There  had  to  be  the  strength  to  battle  with 
the  furious  tempests  of  Cape  Horn  and  at  the  same 
time  the  driving  power  to  sweep  before  the  sweet 
and  steadfast  trade-winds.   Such  a  queenly  clipper 
was  the  Flinng  Cloud,  the  achievement  of  that 
master  builder,  Donald  McKay,  which  sailed  from 
New  York  to  San  Francisco  in  eighty-nine  days, 
with  Captain  Josiah  Creesy  in  command.    This 
record  was  never  lowered  and  was  equaled  only 
twice -by  the  Flying  Cloud  herself  and  by  the 
Andrew  Jackson  nine  years  later.    It  was  during 
this  memorable  voyage  that  the  Flying  Cloud 
sailed  1256  miles  in  four  days  while  steering  to 
the  northward  under  topgallantsails  after  rounding 
Cape  Horn.    This  was  a  rate  of  speed  which,  if 


Pi 


THE  CUPPEB  AND  HER  GLORY       m 

.MUined.  would  have  cwried  her  from  New  York 
to  Queenatown  in  eight  d.y.  «,d  «sventeen  hour.. 
TTu.  veedy  pM.age  wm  m«Ie  in  IMl.  and  only 
two  ye«.  e«lier  the  record  for  the  .ame  voyage  of 
fifteen  thou.and  mile,  had  been  one  hundred  and 
twenty  day.,  by  the  clipper  Memnon. 

Donald  McKay  now  revived  to  build  a  .hip 
larger  and  faster  than  the  Flying  Cloud,  and  hi. 
gemusneared  perfection  in  the  Sovereign  of  the  Sea.. 
of  2421  torn.   regi.ter.  which  exceeded  in  size  all 
merchant  vewel.  afloat.    Thi.  Titan  of  the  clipper 
fleet  wa,  commanded  by  Donald',  brother.  Cap- 
Urn  Lauchlan  McKay,  with  a  crew  of  one  hundred 
«.d  five  men  and  boy..   During  her  only  voyage 
^  ^^n  *rauc.8co  she  was  parUy  di.aiast.d.  but 
Lau  Ulan  McKay  rigged  her  anew  at  sea  in  four- 
teen  day,  and  .till  made  port  in  one  hundred  and 
three  day.,  a  record  for  the  season  of  the  year 

It  was  while  rumiing  home  from  Honolulu  in 
1853  that  the  Sovereign  of  the  Seas  realized  the 
hopes  of  her  builder.  I„  eleven  days  she  sailed 
3562  mdes.  w.th  four  days  logged  for  a  total  of 
1478  knots.  Making  allowance  for  the  longitude, 
and  difference  in  time,  this  was  an  average  daily 
run  of  378  sea  miles  or  435  land  miles.  Using  the 
same  comparison,  the  distance  from  Sandy  Hoc' 


188        THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 
to  Queenstown  would  have  been  covered  in  seven 
days  and  nine  hours.    Figures  are  arid  reading 
perhaps,  but  these  are  wet  by  the  spray  and  swept 
by  the  salt  winds  of  romance.   During  one  of  these 
four  days  the  SoBerei^n  of  the  Seat  reeled  off  424 
nautical  miles,  during  which  her  average  speed 
was  seventeen  and  two-thirds  knots  and  at  times 
reached  nineteen  and  twenty.     The  only  sailing 
ship  which  ever  exceeded  this  day's  work  was  the 
Li^htmng.  built  later  by  the  same  Donald  McKav 

which  ran  436  knot.,  in  theAtlanticpassagealread; 
referred  to.  The  Sovereign  of  the  Seas  could  also 
boast  of  a  sensational  feat  upon  the  Western 
Ocean  for  between  New  York  and  Liverpool  she 
outsailed  the  Cunard  liner  Canada  by  325  miles 
in  five  days. 

It  is  curiously  interesting  to  notice  that  the  Cali- 
fornia clipper  era  is  almost  generally  ignored  by 
the  foremost  English  writers  of  maritime  histon; 
For  one  thing,  it  was  a  trade  in  which  their  own 
ships  were  not  directly  concerned,  and  partizan 
bias  IS  apt  to  color  the  views  of  the  best  of  us  when 
national  prestige  is  involved.  American  historians 
themselves  have  dispensed  with  many  unpleasaat 
facts  when  engaged  with  the  War  of  1812  With 
regard  to  the  speed  of  clipper  ships,  however 


THE  CLIPPER  AND  HER  GLORY       I69 

mvolvinga  rivalry  far  more  thrilling  and  imrv  ,-. 

than  all  the  rac.3  ever  sailed  for  the  A,  eHm'. 
cup.  the  evidence  is  available  in  concrete  Uvn^ 

Lindsay's  Hutoiv  of  Merchant  Shipping  is  the 
most  elaborate  English  work  of  the  kind.    Heavily 
ballasted  with  facts  and  rather  dull  reading  for  the 
most  part,  ,t  k.ndles  with  enthusiasm  when  eulo- 
pmg  the  Thermopylae  and  the  Sir  Launcelot,  com- 
posite clippers  of  wood  and  iron,  afloat  in  1870 
which  It  declares  to  be  "the  fastest  sailing  ships' 
that  ever  traversed  the  ocean."    This  fairly  pre- 
seats  the  issue  which  a  true-blooded  Yankee  has 
no  nght  to  evade.    The  greatest  distance  sailed  by 
the  Str  Lannceht  in  twenty-four  hours  between 
China  and  London  was  354  knots,  compared  with 
the  m  mi  es  of  the  Sovereign  of  the  Seas  and  the 
436  miles  of  the  Lightning.   Her  best  sustained  run 
was  one  of  seven  days  for  an  average  of  a  trifle 
more  than  800  miles  a  day.    Against  this  is  to  be 
^corded  the  performance  of  the  Sovereign  of  the 
Seas,  m^  miles  in  eleven  days,  at  the  rate  of  324 
miles  every  twenty-four  hours,  and  her  wonderful 
four-day  run  of  1478  miles,  an  average  of  378  miles. 
The  ThermopyUB  achieved  her  reputation  in  a 
passage  of  sixty-three  days  from  London  to  Mel- 
bourne -  a  record  which  was  never  beaten     Her 


t-  ' 


I 


hii   i 


170        THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MAHINE 
fwteat  day's  «ail  ng  was  830  miles,  or  not  quite 
s«teen  knots  an  hour.    In  six  days  she  trave..ed 
1748  mJes.  an  average  of  291  miles  a  day.    In  this 
Austraban  trade  the  American  clippers  made  lit- 
tie  effort  to  compete.     Those  engaged  in  it  were 
mos  ly  built  for  English  owners  and  sailed  by  Brit- 
ish skippers,  who  could  not  reasonably  be  expected 
to  get  the  most  out  of  these  loftily  sparred  Yankee 
ships,  which  were  much  larger  than  their  own 
vessels  of  the  same  type.    The  Lightning  showed 
what  she  could  do  from  Melbourne  to  Liverpool 
by  making  the  passage  in  sixty-three  days,  with 
3722  miles  m  ten  consecutive  days  and  one  day's 
sprmt  of  412  miles. 

In  the  China  tea  trade  the  ThermopyUe  drove 
home  from  Foo-chow  in  ninety-one  days,  which 
was  equaled  by  the  Sir  Za„„c.foi.    The  American 
W^k  oftkeWav.  had  a  ninety-day  voyage  to  her 
credit,  and  the  Conu^t  ran  from  Liverpool  to  Shang- 
hai m  eighty-four  days.    Luck  was  a  larger  factor 
oa  this  route  than  in  the  California  or  Australian 
trade  because  of  the  fitful  uncertainty  of  the  mon- 
soons, and  as  a  test  of  speed  it  was  rather  unsatis- 
factoiy     In  a  very  fair-minded  and  expert  sum- 
inary.  Captain  AHhur  H.  Clark.-  in  his  youth  an 
'  Tht  CUpper  Ship  Era.    N.  Y..  1910. 


M 


THE  CLIPPER  AND  HER  GLORY       m 

officer  on  Yar'.ee  clippers,  has  discussed  this  ques- 
tion of  rival  speed  and  power  under  sail  -  a  ques- 
tion which  still  absorbs  those  who  love  the  sea 
His  conclusion  is  that  in  ordinary  weather  at  sea. 
when  great  power  to  carry  sail  was  not  required- 
the  British  tea  clippers  were  extremely  fast  vessels.' 
chiefly  on  account  of  their  narrow  beam.    Under 
these  conditions  they  were  perhaps  as  fast  as  the 
American  clippers  of  the  same  class,  such  as  the 
Sea   Witch.    White   Squall,   Northern  Light,  and 
Sword-Fuh.    But  if  speed  is  to  be  reckoned  by  the 
maximum  performance  of  a  ship  under  the  most 
favorable  conditions,  then  the  British  tea  clippers 
were  certainly  no  match  for  the  larger  American 
ships  such  as  the  Flying  Cloud.  Sovereign  of  the  Seas 
Hurncane.   Trade  Wind.   Typhoon.  Flying  Fish, 
ChaUenge.  and  Red  Jacket.    The  greater  breadth  of 
the  American  ships  in  proportion  to  their  length 
meant  power  to  carry  canvas  and  -ncreased  buoy- 
ancy which  enabled  them,  with  their  shaiper  ends 
to  be  driven  in  strong  gales  and  heavy  seas  at 
much  greater  speed  than  the  British  clippers.   The 
latter  were  seldom  of  more  than  one  thousand  tons' 
register  and  combined  in  a  superiative  degree  the 
good  qualities  of  merchant  ships. 
It  was  the  California  trade,  brief  and  crowded 


U    ' 


% 


I 


m  THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 
^d  fevered,  which  saw  the  roaring  days  of  the 
Yankee  chpper  and  which  was  familiar  wfth  racW 
-pass.n«  in  thrill  and  intensity  that  of  tie  pTJ 
^ps  of  the  Western  Ocean.  In  ,851.  torZ!un^ 
^e  Ra^en.  Sea  Wiick,  and  Ty,koon  sailed  flrTn' 
Wco  w-th,-n  the  same  week.  They  c.ld 
the  Equator  a  day  apart  and  stood  away  to  the 

:L?tr'°^*'r*'°"^''"'^'""-°'*^'-'- 

latituHp  tJ,    p  "*^  ''^«'^«  soutl" 

latitude  the  Raven  and  the  S.a  ITi^cA  were  abeam 

of  ja.h  other  with  the  Ty,Hoon  only  two  d;! 

aro'Ind  c''  '^''"'  '"  ''^  *"^''''  *°  -"^ward 
around   Cape  Horn,  sending  down  studdingsail 

si  o  Th  T  f  °^"^  '"*"  *'"'  '■••--'"'»  head 
tack,  reefing  topsa.ls  and  shaking  them  out  again 
he  v.g.lant  commanders  going  below  onr^ 
change  the.  clothes,  the  exhausted  seamen  stu^ 
bornly.  heroically  handling  with  frozen,  ble^t 
fingers  the  icy  sheet,  and  canvas.  Afortni^'f 
this  mferno  and  the  Sea  Witch  and  the  MZ 

and  the  Typh^  only  one  day  behind.     Then 


THE  CLIPPER  AND  HER  GLORY       m 

ttey,weptnorthward.blownbytheboomi„gtrade- 
^cb^^readmg  ^tuddingsaih.  skysail..  and  above 
iMe  «e«  bandke^hiefe.  the  water-aails  Zl 
nn«-te.l,.    Again  the  three  clippers  crossed  Z 
Equator.    Close-hauled  on  the  starboard  tack 
he.r  bowsprits  were  points,  for  the  last  stgj 
of  the  journey  to  the  Golden  Gate.    The  Typkl 
now  overhauled  her  rivals  and  was  the  Zt  to 
s.gnal  her  a,r.va .  but  the  victory  was  earned 

Boston  L^ht  while  the  others  had  sailed  from 
New  York.     The  T,pkoon  and  the  Ra.en  wer" 

bet:?hTir:^*^^^^-'^^'^*«-^- 

Clipper  ship  crews  included  men  of  many  na- 
tions. In  the  average  forecastle  there  would  be 
two  or  three  Americans,  a  majority  of  English  and 

Itohans.    The  hardiest  seamen,  and  the  most  un- 

ZTi  ;  "*"*  *''  ''"^'P'-'  P-''**  -t«  who 
were  lured  from  their  accustomed  haunts  to  join 
the  clippers  by  the  magical  call  of  the  gold- 
ym.  There  were  not  enough  deep-water 
a  lors  to  man  half  the  ships  that  were  built  in 
these  few  years,  and  the  crimps  and  boarding- 
house  rumiers  decoyed  or  flung  aboard  on  sailing 


rr 


m 


I! 


r: 


I' 


hi 


"fi 


i! 


174  THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 
day  as  many  men  as  were  demanded,  and  any 
drunken,  broken  landlubber  was  good  enough  to 
be  shipped  as  an  able  seaman.  They  were  things 
of  rags  and  tatters  -  their  only  luggage  a  botUe 
of  whiskey. 

The  mates  were  thankful  if  they  could  muster 
enough  real  sailors  to  work  the  ship  to  sea  and 
then  began  the  stem  process  of  whipping  the  wast- 
rels  and  mcompetents  into  shape  for  the  perils  and 
emergencies  of  the  long  voyage.    That  these  great 
chpperp  Were  brought  safely  to  port  is  a  shining 
trjute  to  the  masterful  skill  of  their  officers 
While  many  of  them  were  humane  and  just,  with 
all  their  severity,  the  stories  of  savage  abuse  which 
are  told  of  some  are  shocking  in  the  extreme.    The 
defense  was  that  it  was  either  mutiny  or  club  the 
men  under.    Better  treatment  might  hi-ve  per- 
suaded better  men  to  sail.   Certain  it  is  that  life  in 
the  forecastle  of  a  clipper  was  even  more  intoler- 
able to  the  self-.especting  American  youth  than  it 
had  previously  been  aboard  the  Atlantic  packet 

When  Captain  Bob  Waterman  arrived  at  San 
Francisco  in  the  Challenge  clipper  in  1851,  a  mob 
tned  very  earnestly  to  find  and  hang  him  and  his 
officers  because  of  the  harrowing  stories  told  by  his 
sailors.    That  he  had  shot  several  of  them  from 


THE  CLIPPER  AND  HER  GLORY  175 
tte  yard,  with  his  pistol  to  make  the  othe«  move 
faster  was  one  count  in  the  indictment.  For  ^ 
P^  Captain  Waterman  asserted  tnat  a  1^ 
desperate  crew  of  ruffians  had  never  sailed  out  7t 
NewYoHcandthatonlytwoofthemwereA:!:! 

tZbJX:;tr"r;rr""^''"""' 

.,  ,  ^^  we  who  swore  to  iret 

the  upper  hand  of  him.  His  mates.  boatswainTd 
ca^enter  had  broken  open  their  chests  and  bol 
and  had  removed  a  collection  of  slung-sho^ 
Wkle^usters.  bowie-knives,  and  pistoll^ 
K.0  Jane.ro  they  had  tried  to  kill  the  chief  mate 
and  Captam  Watennan  had  been  compel^ t 
jump  m  and  stretch  two  of  them  dead  with  an  i.«n 

f.m  aloft  and  we.  lost.    Th^s  accounted  for  the 

The  truth  of  such  episodes  as  these  was  difficult 
tofa«.om  Captain  Waterman  demanded  a  legal 
mvest.gat,o„.  but  nothing  came  of  his  request  Id 
he  was  commended  by  his  owners  for  his  skill  and 
cou^ge  m  bnng,ng  the  ship  to  port  without  losing 
a  spar  or  a  sa.l.  It  was  a  skipper  of  this  old  schoo! 
who  Wandly  mamtained  the  doctrine  that  if  you 
andk  the  men  to  love  you.  you  must  starve  them 
and  knock  them  down.    The  fact  is  proven  by 


H 


iii 


■  It 


i  m 


176       THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 

scores  of  cases  that  the  discipline  of  the  American 
clipper  was  both  famously  efficient  and  notoriously 
cruel.  It  was  not  until  long  after  American  sailors 
had  ceased  to  exist  that  adequate  legislation  was 
enacted  to  provide  that  they  should  be  treated  as 
human  beings  afloat  and  ashore.  Other  days  and 
other  customs!  It  is  perhaps  unkind  to  judge  these 
vanished  master-mariners  too  harshly,  for  we  can- 
not comprehend  the  crises  which  conUnually  beset 
them  in  their  command. 

No  more  extreme  clipper  ships  were  built  after 
1854.  The  California  frenzy  had  subsided  and 
speed  in  carrying  merchandise  was  no  longer  so 
essential;  besides,  the  passenger  traffic  was  seeking 
the  Isthmian  route.  What  were  called  medium 
clippers  enjoyed  a  profitable  trade  for  many  years 
later,  and  one  of  them,  the  Andrew  Jaeluon,  was 
never  outsailed  for  the  record  from  New  York  to 
San  Francisco.  This  splendid  type  of  ship  was  to 
be  found  on  every  sea,  for  the  United  States  was 
still  a  commanding  factor  in  the  maritime  activi- 
ties of  South  America,  India,  China,  Europe,  and 
Australia.  In  1851  its  merchant  tonnage  rivaled 
that  of  England  and  was  everywhere  competing 
with  it. 

The  effects  of  the  financial  panic  of  1857  and  the 


THE  CUPPER  AND  HER  GLORY       ,77 

«f  termath  of  business  dcp^ssion  were  particularly 
disastrous  to  M  erican  sh.ps.  Freights  were  „ 
iow  as  to  yield  no  profit,  and  the  flLt  ol  ^l^ 

launch  new  tonnage.  British  builder,  had  made 
such  rap.d  p^  •° ''«'"«''  -<«  -nstrucdoo  that 
the  days  of  Yankee  pref e.*nce  in  the  China  trade 
had  passed.     The  Stars  and  Stripes  floaS^:' 

^^ps  wa.ting  idie  in  Manila  Bay.  at  ShangZ 
Hong-Kong,  and  CalcutU.  The  tide  of  commerce 
had  slackened  abroad  as  well  as  at  home  and  the 
surplus  of  deep-water  tonnage  was  world-wide 

had  displayed  amazing  recuperative  powers.  The 
havoc  of  the  Revolution  had  been  unable  to  check 
It  and  .ts  vigor  and  aggressive  e„ten.rise  had 
never  been  more  notable  than  after  the  blows  dealt 
by  the  Embargo,  the  French  Spoliations,  and  the 
War  of  1818.  The  conditions  of  trade  a.  .  the 
temper  of  the  people  were  now  so  changed  tha 
h.s  mjghty  industry,  aforetime  so  Just  and 

es.hent.  was  unable  to  recover  from  such  shocks  as 
the  pamc  of  ,857  and  the  Civil  War.    Yet  it  had 

previously  survived  and  triumphed  over  calamities 
armorescvere.    The  destruction  wrought  by  Con- 
federate cruisers  was  trifling  compared  wi[h  the 


f 


j 

■ 

ill; 

JW       THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 
work  of  the  British  and  French  privatee«  when 
the  nation  was  very  smaJJ  and  weak 
The  American  spirit  had  cased  to  concern  itseU 

The  fooUteps  of  the  young  men  no  longer  turned 
towan,  the  wharf  and  the  watersideandfhetie™^ 
tell  sh,ps  outward  bound.  They  were  aspiring  to 
conquer  an  .niand  empire  of  „rairie  and  mounfain 
and  desert,  unpelled  by  the  same  pioneering  and 
adventurous  ardor  which  had  burned  in  their 
seafanng  s,rcs.  Steam  had  vanquished  sail  -  an 
epochal  event  in  a  thousand  years  of  maritime 
h-to-y-but  the  nation  did  not  care  enough  to 

United  SUtes  ceased  to  be  a  strip  of  Atlantic  sea- 
board  and  the  panorama  of  a  continent  was  un- 
rolled to  settlement,  it  was  foreordained  that  the 
n.ar,t.me  habit  of  thought  and  action  should  lose 
•ts  v,„hty  in  America.    AH  great  seafaring  ra^^ 
E^hsh.  Norwegian.  Portuguese,  and  Dutl.  ha 
taken  to  salt  water  because  there  was  lack  of  space 
ood  or  work  ashore,  and  their  strong  young  men' 
craved  opportunities.    Like  the  Pilgrim  Pathe« 


THE  CLIWER  AND  HER  GLOHV       179 

and  their  fiahing  shaUop.  they  had  nowhere  else  to 
go. 

When  the  Flying  Cloud  and  the  clipper,  of  her 
kind -taut,  .erene.  immaculate  -  were  .ailing 
through  the  lonely  .pace,  of  the  South  Atlantic 
and  the  Pacific,  they  .ighted  now  and  then  the 
^  .tumpy,  .lattemly  rig  and  greasy  hull  of  a  New 
Bedford  whaler,  perhaps  rolling  to  the  weight  of  a 
huge  carcass  alongside.  With  a  poor  opinion  of  the 
Kamanship  of  these  wandering  barks,  the  clipper 
crews  rolled  out.  among  their  favorite  chanteys: 

Oh,  poor  Reuben  Ranzo. 

Ranzo,  boys,  O  Ranzo, 

Oh,  Ranzo  was  no  sailor. 

So  they  shipped  him  aboard  a  whaler. 

Ranzo,  boys.  O  Ranzo. 

This  was  crass,  intolerant  prejudice.  The  whal- 
ing ship  was  careless  of  appearances,  it  is  true 
and  had  the  air  of  an  ocean  vagabond;  but  there 
were  other  duties  more  important  than  holystoning 
decks,  scraping  spars,  and  trimming  the  yards  to  a 
hair.  On  a  voyage  of  two  or  three  years,  moreover 
there  was  always  plenty  of  time  tomorrow.  Brave' 
and  resourceful  seamen  were  these  New  England 
adventurers  and  deep-sea  hunters  who  made 
nautical  history  after  their  own  fashion.     They 


m 


i 


if  ■■« 


180       THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 
pnme  «,d  they  p.^  Uom  the  ««  .t  about  the 

eWwhere  more  profiuble  .„d  easier  employment. 
The  great  day,  of  Nantucket  as  a  whaling  port 
were  parsed  before  the  Revoiufon  wiped  out^^ 
.h.p.  and  killed  or  ^.altered  her  «.i,oC^  j^Z 
later  d.scwered  that  larger  .hip,  were  more  Z 

o  admit  the,r  parage.    F„r  thi,  rea«.n  New  Bed- 
ford became  the  scene  of  the  foremost  activity 
and  Nantucket  thereafter  played  a  minor  part.' 
a  though  her  bark,  went  cruising  on  to  the  end  o 
the  chapter  and  her  old  whaling  families  we^ 
rue  to  stram.  As  explorer,  the  whalemen  rambled 
mto  every  nook  and  comer  of  the  Pacific  before 
merchant  vessels  had  found  their  way  thither! 
They  discovered  uncharted  islands  and  cheerfully 
fought  savages  or  suffered  direful  diipwreck.    The 
chase  led  them  into  Arctic  region,  where  their 
.tout  bark,  were  nipped   like  eggshell,  among 
the  grmdmg  floes,  or  else  far  to  the  southward 
where  ttey  b«,led  in  tropic  calms.    The  New 
Bedford  lad  was  a,  keen  to  go  a-whaling  as  wa,  hi, 
counterpart  m  Boston  or  New  York  to  be  the 


THE  CLIPPER  AND  HER  GLORY       ,8, 

'  Mked  a  mMden  by  my  nde 
..oo«ghed„d  looked  to  me  forlorn. 

why^rfhTN '"«!,."'"'"'  '■*•  '"■«''  '''^^  '•"  JM7 
«a.l  and  those  owned  in  other  port,  of  Buzzard'. 
B-y  .we  led  the  total  to  m  ve»el..  b  Je"  tfcl 

In  th.  year  the  value  of  the  catch  wa.  IreTau 
^n  n..lhon  dollar,.    The  old  cu.ton>  of  7a  ,i„! 

cZriT    '''^"'''r°^''"*-'^-"- 
cha„ged.    It  was  wm  or  lose  for  all  hands  -  now 

a  handsome  fortune  or  again  an  empty  hold  and 

pockets   likewise.     There   was   Cap  Jn    W    T 

Walker  of  New  Bedford  who.  in  ^S47,U,lZJ. 

^n,  a  sh.p  so  old  that  she  was  about  to  be  hi 

up  for  ,unk  and  no  insurance  broker  would  S 

lit  ir      T"  "'"*' ""'  ''"■"^  «  -"-d 

went  sa.hng  ,u  the  Pacific.    Miraculously  keeping 

tuL    T  r"'  *"'**  ™'""»«'  ^-^^o-  «he  re- 
on  a  total  investment  of  eight  thousand  dollars 


Ui! 


•h  '*!!■ 


182        THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 

The  ship  Sarah  of  Nantucket,  after  a  three 
years'  cruise,  brought  back  3497  barrels  of  sperm 
0.1  which  sold  for  $89,000.  and  the  WiUiam  Bamil- 
ion  of  New  Bedford  set  another  high  mark  by 
stowing  4181  barrels  of  a  value  of  $109,269     The 

Ptone^^ofNew  London.  CaptainEbenezerMorgai, 
was  away  only  a  year  and  stocked  a  cargo  of  oil 
and  whalebone  which  sold  for  $150,060.    Most  of 
the  profits  of  prosperous  voyages  were  taken  as 
the  owners'  share,  and  the  incomes  of  the  captain 
and  crew  were  so  niggardly  as  to  make  one  wonder 
why  they  persisted  in  a  calling  so  perilous,  arduous, 
and  poorly  paid.   During  the  best  years  of  whaling 
when  the  ships  were  averaging  $16,000  for  a  voy- 
age, the  master  received  an  eighteenth,  or  about 
nine  hundred  dollars  a  year.    The  highly  skilled 
hands,  such  as  the  boat-steerers  and  harpooners. 
had  a  lay  of  only  one  seventy-fifth,  or  perhaps  a 
httle  more  than  two  hundred  dollars  cash  as  the 
reward  of  a  voyage  which  netted  the  owner  at 
least  fifty  per  cent  on  his  investment.    Occasion- 
ally they  fared  better  than  this  and  sometimes 
worse     The  answer  to  the  riddle  is  that  they  liked 
the  life  and  had  always  the  gambling  spirit  which 
hopes  for  a  lucky  turn  of  the  cards. 
The  countless  episodes  of  fragile  boats  smashed 


THE  CLIPPER  AND  HER  GLORY  iss 
to  kindling  by  fighting  whales.  „f  the  attack  re- 
Bewedjnth  harpoon  and  lance,  of  sWp«  actually 
nunmed  and  sunk,  would  fill  a  volume  by  then,- 
.elves  and  have  been  stirringly  narrated  in  n^any" 
one  Zanzibar  and  Kamchatka,  Tasmania  and  the 
Seychelles  knew  the  lean,  sun-dried  Yankee  whale- 

te^t.      The  C.VJ  War  did  not  drive  him  f„,m  the 

m^nded  higher  puces  in  1907  than  fifty  years 
befor^  but  the  number  of  his  ships  rapfdly'T 
creased^  Whales  were  becoming  scarce.  LdNt 
England  capital  preferred  other  forms  of  invest- 

Zl,  ^^^''''^'''y  °'d  ««a-«  craft  was  suc- 
c^ded  by  the  steam  whaler,  and  the  explosive 
bomb  slew,  mstead  of  the  harpoon  and  lance  hurled 

Cane  V  T^"'i*  '*™  °'  '^  ^ew  Bedford  man  or 
l-ape  Verde  islander. 

Roving  whaler  and  armed  East  Indiaman. 
Plungjng  packet  ship  and  stately  clipper,  they 
.erved  their  appointed  days  and  passi  on  thel 
-eral  courses  to  become  mere  memories  I 
^adowy  and  unsubstantial  as  the  gleam  of  their 
own  topsails  when  seen  at  twilight.  The  souls  of 
the,r  sailors  have  fled  to  Fiddler's  Green,  where  all 


^i 


%M 


184        THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 

dead  mariners  go.  They  were  of  the  old  merchant 
manne  which  contributed  something  fine  and  im- 
penshabletothestoiyoftheUnitedStates.  Down 
the  wmd.  vibrant  «.d  deep.th«uited.  comes  their 
own  refrain  for  a  requiem : 

We're  outward  bound  thi,  veiy  day. 
wod-bye,  fare  you  well. 
Good-bye,  fare  you  well. 
We're  outward  bound  this  very  day 
Hurrah,  my  boys,  we're  outward  bound. 


V 


CHAPTER  X 


BOUND  COASTWISE 

Q™  thinks  of  the  old  merchant  marine  in  tenns  of 
tte  chpper  sh.p  and  distant  ports.    The  coasting 
trade  has  been  overl«,ked  in  song  and  stoiy;  yet 
smce  the  year  1859.  its  fleets  have  alwayT  b'ein 

Z,  T  """'  "°P°'*'"*  *•""»  ">«  American 
deep-water  commeree  nor  have  decay  and  mis- 
fortune overtaken  them.  It  i,  a  traffic  which 
flounsh^i  from  the  banning,  ingeniously  a^a^' 
«.«  atself  to  new  conditions,  unchecked  by  w^ 

2t  ^ri^'-f.-th  '^lenA-d  vigor,  under  steam 
and  sail,  m  this  modem  era. 

to  '^TfT' '""°"'"'"  ^°"  *^"'  ''^y  ^«»»  port 

to  port  of  the  tempestuous  Atlantic  coast  in  L 
ketches,  sloops,  and  shallops  when  the  voyage  of 
fiv«  hund.^  n.iles  from  New  England  to  ^nia 
wa^  a  prolonged  and  hazardous  adventure.  Fog 
and  shoals  and  lee  shores  beset  these  coastwse 
sadors,  and  shipwrecks  were  pitifully  frequl 


u 


i»3 


186        THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 
In  no  Hall  of  Fame  will  you  find  the  name  of  Cap- 
tain  Andrew  Robinson  of  Gloucester,  but  he  was 
nevertheless  an  illustrious  benefactor  and  deserves 
a  place  among  the  most  useful  Americans.    His 
invention  was  the  Yankee  schooner  of  fore-and-aft 
rig.  and  he  gave  to  this  type  of  vessel  its  name.' 
Seaworthy,  fast,  and  easily  handled,  adapted  for 
use  in  the  early  eighteenth  century  when  inland 
transportation  was  almost  impossible,  the  schooner 
carried  on  trade  be;  .een  the  colonies  and  was  an 
important  factor  in  the  growth  of  the  fisheries. 

Before  the  Revolution  the  first  New  England 
schooners  were  beating  up  to  the  Grand  Bank  of 
Newfoundland  after  cod  and  halibut.  They  were 
of  no  more  than  fifty  tons'  burden,  too  small  for 
their  task  but  manned  by  fishermen  of  surpassing 
hardihood.  Marblehead  was  then  the  foremost 
fishing  port  with  two  hundred  brigs  and  schooners 
on  the  offshore  banks.  But  to  Gloucester  belongs 
the  glory  of  sending  the  first  schooner  to  the  Grand 
Bank.'  Prom  these  two  rock-bound  haibors  went 
thousands  of  trained  seamen  to  man  the  privateers 

■It  i.  nid  tut  a.  the  odd  two-m„te-  did  gr«»fully  bto  th. 

ZTT^  V"""'  ^^'"^"^  "  '  "*°°^ '" ''"  be! "    Thi,  lau^i 
ing  took  place  m  171.S  or  1714.  "uncn- 

'  MarTin'a  Ammcm  Mmhant  Marint,  p.  887. 


BOUND  COASTWISE  igy 

and  the  ships  of  the  ContbentaJ  navy,  dinging 

the.rhamn,ockson  the  gun-decks  beside  the  ZZ 
men  of  Nantucket.  These  fishennen  and  coast- 
wise sa.lo«  fought  on  the  land  as  well  and  followed 
the  drums  of  Washington's  amies  until  the  final 
scene  at  Yorktown.  Gloucester  and  Marblehead 
were  fi  led  w.th  widows  and  orphans,  and  half  their 
men-folk  were  dead  or  missing. 

The  fishing-trade  soon  prospered  again,  and  the 
men  of  the  old  ports  tenaciously  clung  to  the  sea 
even  when  the  great  migration  flowed  westward  to 
people  the  wilderness  and  found  a  new  American 
empire     They  were  fishermen  from  father  to  son, 
bound  together  in  an  intimate  community  of  in- 
terests, a  race  of  pure  native  or  English  stock, 
deservmg  th.s  tribute  which  was  paid  to  them  in 
Congress:    'Every  person  on  b  ^d  our  fishing 
vessels  has  an  interest  in  common  with  his  ass.^ 
dates;  f  «ir  reward  depends  upon  their  industry 
aiident       "se.    Much  caution  is  observed  in  the 
selection  of  the  crews  of  our  fishing  vessels;  it  often 
happens  that  eveiy  individual  is  comiected  by 
blood  and  the  strongest  ties  of  Wendship;  om 
fishermen  are  remarkable  for  their  sobriety  and 
good  conduct,  and  they  rank  with  the  most  skillful 
navigators." 


188       THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 

Fishing  and  the  coastwise  merchant  trade  were 
closely  linked.    Schooners  loaded  dried  cod  as  well 
as  lumber  for  southern  ports  and  carried  back  naval 
stores  and  other  southern  products.    Well-to^o 
fishermen  owned  trading  vessels  and  sent  out  their 
ventures,  the  sailors  shifting  from  one  forecastle 
to  the  other.    With  a  taste  for  an  easier  life  than 
the  stormy,  freezing  Banks,  the  young  Gloucester- 
man  would  sign  on  for  a  voyage  to  Pem-mbuco  or 
Havana  and  so  be  fired  with  ambition  to  become 
a  mate  or  master  and  take  to  deep  water  after  a 
while.    In  this  way  was  maintained  a  school  o. 
seamanship  which  furnished  the  most  intelligent 
and  efficient  officers  of  the  merchant  marine.    For 
generations  they  were  mostly  recruited  from  the 
old  fishmg  and  shipping  ports  of  New  England 
until  the  term  "Yankee  shipmaster"  had  a  mean- 
mg  peculiarly  its  own. 

Seafaring  has  undergone  so  many  revolutionary 
changes  and  old  days  and  ways  are  so  nearly  ob- 
literated that  it  is  singular  to  find  the  sailing  ves- 
sel still  employed  in  great  numbers,  even  though  the 
gasolene  motor  is  being  insteUed  to  kick  her  along 
in  spells  of  calm  weather.  The  Gloucester  fishing 
schooner,  perfect  of  her  type,  stanch,  fleet,  and 
powerful,  still  drives  homeward  from  the  Banks 


BOUND  COASTWISE  igg 

divide  the  earnmga.  share  and  share,  as  did  ihJl 
forefathers  a  hundred  -n^  «*»  ^*" 

t'OMofthecalhngareundimnied. 
There  was  a  time  before  the  Civil  War  when 

C^3n^ess,ealousIyp,„teaedthefishe„esbrmt:: 
of  a  bounty  systen.  and  legislation  aimed  a^n" 

z^?zr  '''"''■  ^^•'^^^-^fleetTw:^, 

atdo::  t.1^^:^^^^^^^^^^^      —  was 
-^^or  themseCearr- r  t 

because  they  knew  no  other  p«>fession.    In  spite 
of  this  loss  of  assistance  from  the  Government  Z 

TZST  '■"  r-^-  ^^^"-  -  -ert 
great  as  m  the  second  year  of  the  Civil  War    Four 

years  later  the  industo.hadshr„nkone-hai;a!di 
has  never  recovered  its  early  importance.. 


180       THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 

The  coastwise  merchant  trade,  on  the  other 
hand,  has  been  jealously  guarded  against  competi- 
tion and  otherwise  fostered  ever  since  1780,  when 
the  first  discriminatory  tonnage  tax  was  enforced. 
The  Embargo  Act  of  1808  prohibited  domestic 
commerce  to  foreign  flags,  and  this  edict  was  re- 
newed in  the  American  Navigation  Act  of  1817. 
It  remained  a  firmly  establisi   d  doctrine  of  mari- 
time  policy  until  the  Great  War  compelled  its 
suspension  as  an  emergency  measure.    The  theo- 
ries of  protection  and  free  trade  have  been  bitterly 
debated  for  generations,  but  in  this  instance  the 
practice  was  eminently  successful  and  the  results 
were   vastly   impressive.     Deep-water  shipping 
dwindled  and  died,  but  the  increase  in  coastwise 
sailing  was  consistent.    It  rose  to  five  million  tons 
early  in  this  century  and  makes  the  United  States 
still  one  of  the  foremost  maritime  powers  in  respect 
to  salt-water  activity. 

To  speak  of  this  deep-water  shipping  as  trade 
coastwise  is  misleading,  in  a  wa--.  The  words  con- 
vey an  impression  of  dodging  from  port  to  port  for 
short  distances,  whereas  many  of  the  voyages  are 
longer  than  those  of  the  foreign  routes  in  European 
waters.  It  is  farther  by  sea  from  Boston  to  Phila- 
delphia than  from  Plymouth.  England,  to  Bordeaux. 


BODND  COASTWISE  jj, 

varn'rr  '^"^  ^  ™" '«""  ^"^^-^ »« s.- 

^amp  bound  out  f«,«  England  to  Li.bon.   It"; 
•horte,  voyage  from  Cardiff  to  AigieTthan  an 

^'"veston.    This  coastwise  trade  may  lack  the 
«man^  of  the  old  school  of  the  square-rL^T,! 
m  the  Roaring  Forties,  but  it  has  always'wnt^ 
more  perilous  and  exartm.,      t* 
hurH.),;..        .  **«=*">«•     Its  seamen  suffer 

T  P  "'^"'^  '^^^'''''  for  they  have  to 
«durewintersof  intense  cold  and  heavy  ieland 
t^y^^ealwaysinriskofstrandingorbir^n 

for  the  most  part,  with  the  development  of  the 

TrZ:^V '-''-■    ^•■^«'-f"Icrat 
f^uS.       .       °"^  '*'"*  •^'^  P^'P'^'  --  built 

forut,hty  and  possessedasimple  beauty  of  itsown 
when  under  full  sail     Ti.«     l  "wown 

verv  small  K  schooners  were  at  first 

ve^  small  because  .t  was  believed  that  large  fore- 
and-aft  saUs  eould  not  be  handled  with  safetT 
They  were  difficult  to  reef  or  lower  in  a  blow  ul^l 

:rtj:zrir:rrm"^^— 

Wmastedschoonerrthe^r^i-; 


IM  THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 
of  American  merchant  vewel.  They  cituteied  in 
every  Atlantic  port  and  were  built  in  the  yard«  of 
New  England.  New  York.  New  Jersey,  and  Vir- 
ginia.  —  built  by  the  mile,  as  the  saying  was.  and 
sawed  off  in  lengths  to  suit  the  owners'  pleasure. 
They  carried  the  coal,  ice,  lumber  of  the  whole  sea- 
board and  were  so  economical  of  man-power  that 
they  earned  dividends  where  steamers  or  square- 
rigged  ships  would  not  have  paid  for  themselves. 

As  soon  as  a  small  steam-engine  was  employed 
to  hobt  the  sails,  it  became  possible  to  launch 
much  larger  schooners  and  to  operate  them  at  a 
marvelously  low  cost.    Rapidly  the  four-master 
gained  favor,  and  then  came  the  five-  and  six- 
masted  vessels,  gigantic  ships  of  their  kind.    In- 
stead of  the  hundred-ton  schooner  of  a  centuiy  ago, 
Hampton  Roads  and  Boston  Harbor  saw  these 
great   cargo   carriers   which   could   stow   under 
hatches  four  and  five  thousand  tons  of  coal,  and 
whose  masts  soared  a  hundred  and  fifty  feet  above 
the  deck.    Square-rigged  sWps  of  the  same  ca- 
pacity  would  have  required  crews  of  ahundredmen, 
but  these  schooners  were  comfortably  handled  by 
a  company  of  fifteen  all  told,  only  ten  of  whom 
were  in  the  forecastle.     There  was  no  need  of 
sweating  and  hauling  at  braces     d  halliards.    The 


BOOND  COASTWBB  iss 

rteam-winch  undertook  all  thi.  toil.  The  t^men- 
dous  .a.I.  stretching  a  hundred  feet  from  boom  to 
gaff  could  not  have  been  managed  otherwue. 
Even  for  trimming  .heet,  or  .etting  topwib.  it  wa. 
nece^uuy  me«ly  to  taJce  a  turn  or  two  around  the 

drum  of  the  winch  engine  and  turn  the.teamv«Jve. 
The  b,g  schooner  was  the  I.«t  wo«i  in  cheap,  effi- 

cent  transportation  by  water.    In  her  own  sphere 

:  the  w'/  r^ "  ""^^"^  «■  -^'---t 

clippi  "'"''"*  °'  ^^^  ^"P«  Horn 

The  master,  who  sailed  these  extraoHinary  ves- 
sels also  changed  and  had  to  learn  a  new  kind 
of  seamanship.     They  must  be  very  competent 
men,  for  the  tests  of  their  skill  and  readiness  were 
really  greater  than  those  demanded  of  the  deeo 
water  skipper.    They  drove  these  great  schooni 
alongshore  wmter  and  summer,  across  Nantucket 
Shoals  and  around  Cape  Cod,  and  their  salvation 
depended  on  shortening  sail  ahead  of  the  gale    Let 
the  wmd  once  blow  and  the  sea  get  up,  «.d  it  was 
almost  impossible  to  strip  the  canvas  off  an  un- 
wieldy six-master.    The  captain's  chief  fear  was 
of  being  blown  offshore,  of  having  his  vessel  run 
away  with  him-    Unlike  the  deep-water  man.  he 
preferred  rumiing  in  toward  the  beach  and  letting 


3:1 


I 


104        THE  OLH  MERCHANT  MARINE 

go  hi»  anchors.    There  he  would  ride  out  the  itomi 

and  hoist  sail  when  the  weather  moderated. 

Thoc  were  American  shipmasters  of  the  old 
breed,  raised  in  schooners  as  a  rule,  and  adapting 
themselves  to  modern  conditions.  They  sailed  for 
nominal  wages  and  primage,  or  five  per  cent  of  the 
gross  freight  paid  the  vessel.  Before  the  Great 
War  in  Europe,  freights  were  low  and  the  schooner 
skippers  earned  scanty  incomes.  Then  came  a 
world  shortage  of  tonnage  and  immediately  coast- 
wise freights  soared  skyward.  The  big  schooners 
of  the  Palmer  fleet  began  to  reap  fabulous  divi- 
dends and  their  masters  shared  in  the  unexpected 
opulence.  Besides  their  primage  they  owned 
shares  in  their  vessels,  a  thirty-second  or  so,  and 
presently  their  settlement  at  the  end  of  a  voyage 
coastwise  amounted  to  an  income  of  a  thousand 
dollars  a  month.  They  earned  this  money,  ard  the 
managing  owners  cheerfully  paid  them,  for  there 
had  been  lean  years  and  uncomplaining  service 
and  the  sailor  had  proved  himself  worthy  of  his 
hire.  So  tempting  was  the  foreign  war  trade,  that 
a  fleet  of  them  was  sent  across  the  Atlantic  until 
the  American  Government  barred  them  from  the 
war  zone  as  too  easy  a  prey  for  submarine  attack. 
They  theiefore  returned  to  the  old  coastwise  route 


m 


BOwND  COASTWISE  ,94 

mtep«itmg  ship,  because  they  were  the  la.t  bold 

venture  of  the  old  American  maritime  .piri,  . 

challenge  to  the  Age  of  Steam. 
No  more  of  these  huge,  towering  schooners  have 

been  bu.,t  .„  the  last  dozen  years.  Steam  collier, 
and  barges  have  won  the  fight  because  time  is  now 
jore  valuable  than  cheapness  of  transportation. 
The  schooner  m.ght  bowl  down  to  Norfolk  from 
Boston  or  Portland  in  four  days  and  be  threshing 
about  for  two  weeks  in  head  winds  on  the  return 
voyage.  " 

The  small  schooner  appeared  to  be  doomed 
|«mewhat  earlier.  She  had  ceased  to  be  profitable 
in  competition  w,th  the  larger,  more  modem  fore- 
and-after  but  .nese  battered,  veteran  craft  died 
hard.    They  harked  back,  a  simpler  age.  to  t^e 

tl^L]^^""""'"^  '""'  *'■*'  ^Pinn'-ng-wheel.  to 
the  httle  shipyards  that  were  to  ^»  found  on  eveiy 
bay  and  miet  of  New  England,     iney  were  sZ 

Z  ".k"  "^  '^  ""="  '''"'  ''^'•°-  --  friends 
and  neighbors.    Even  now  you  may  find  during 

your  summer  wanderings  some  stumpy,  weather 

worn  two-master  running  in  for  shelter  overnight, 

Which  has  phed  up  and  down  the  coa.,t  for  fifty  o^ 

sixty  years,  now  leaking  like  a  basket  and  too  frail 


196        THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 

for  winter  voyages.    It  was  in  a  craft  veiy  much 

like  this  that  j  our  rude  ancestors  went  privateering 

against  the  British.     Indeed,  the  little  schooner 

PoUy.  which  fought  briskly  in  the  War  of  1812.  is 

still  afloat  and  loading  cargoes  in  New  Englaiid 

ports. 

These  little  coasters,  surviving  long  after  the 
strtely  merchant  marine  had  vanished  from  blue 
water,  have  enjoyed  a  slant  of  favoring  fortune 
in  recent  years.     They,  too,  have  been  in  demand, 
and  once  again  there  is  money  to  spare  for  paint 
and  cordage  and  calking.    They  have  been  granted 
a  new  lease  of  life  and  may  be  found  moore  J  at  the 
wharfs,  beached  on  the  marins  railways,  or  an- 
chored in  the  stream,  eagerly  awaiting  their  turn 
to  refit.    It  is  a  matter  of  vital  concern  that  the 
freight  on  spruce  boards  from  Bangor  to  New  York 
has  increased  to  five  dollars  a  thousar.d  feet.  Many 
of  these  craft  belong  to  grandf atherly  skippers  who 
dared  not  venture  past  Cape  Cod  in  December, 
lest  the  venerable  MatiUa  Emerson  or  the  vale^ 
tudinarian  Joshua  R.  Coggswell  should  open  up  and 
founder  in  a  blow.    During  the  winter  storms  these 
skippers  used  to  hug  the  kitchen  stove  in  bleak 
farmhouses  until  spring  came  and  they  could  put 
to  sea  again.   The  rigor  of  circumstances,  however. 


BOUND  COASTWISE  197 

forced  othew  to  seek  for  trade  the  whole  year 
through.  In  a  recent  winter  fifty-seven  schooners 
were  lost  on  the  New  England  coast,  most  of  which 
were  unfit  for  anything  but  summer  breeze..  As 
by  a  miracle,  others  have  been  able  to  renew 
their  youth,  to  replace  spongy  planking  and  rot- 
ten stems,  and  to  deck  themselves  out  in  white 
canvas  and  fresh  pa^nt! 

The  captains  of  these  craft  foregather  in  the 
ship-chandler's  shops,  where  the  floor  is  strewn 
with  sawdust,  the  armchairs  are  capacious,  and 
the  environment  harmonizes  with  the  tales  that 
are  told.    It  is  an  informal  club  of  coasc    se  skip- 
pers and  the  old  energy  begins  to  show  itself  once 
more.    They  move  with  a  brisker  gait  than  when 
times  were  so  hard  and  they  went  begging  for 
charters  at  any  terms.   A  sinewy  patriarch  stumps 
to  a  window,  flourishes  his  arm  at  an  ancient  two- 
master,  and  booms  out: 

"That  vessel  of  mine  is  as  sound  as  a  nut.  I  teU 
ye.  She  ain't  as  big  as  some,  but  I'd  like  nothin' 
better  than  to  fill  her  full  of  suthin'  for  the  west 
coast  of  Africy,  same  as  the  Horace  M.  Bickford 
that  cleared  t'other  day,  stocked  for  ^ixiy  thousand 
dollars." 

"Huh,  you'd  get  lost  out  o'  sight  of  land.  John." 


198  THE  OLD  MERCHANT  MARINE 
is  the  oruel  retort,  "and  that  old  shoe-box  of  yours 
ud  be  scared  to  death  without  a  harbor  to  run  into 
every  time  the  sun  clouded  over.  Expect  to  navi- 
gate  to  Africy  with  an  alarm-clock  and  a  soundin'. 
lead,  I  presume." 

"Mebbe  I'd  better  let  well  enough  alone."  re- 
plies the  old  man.  "Africy  don't  seem  as  neigh- 
borly as  Phippsburg  and  Machiasport.  I'll  chance 
it  Bs  far  as  Philadelphy  next  voyage  and  I  guess 
the  old  woman  can  buy  a  new  dress." 

The  activity  and  the  reawakening  of  the  old 
shipyards,  their  slips  all  filled  with  the  frames  of 
wooden  vessels  for  the  foreign  trade,  is  like  a  re- 
vival of  the  old  merchant  marine,  a  reinca-nation 
of  ghostly  memories.     In  meUowed  dignity  the 
square  white  houses  beneath  the  New  England 
elms  recall  to  mind  the  mariners  who  dwelt  there- 
in.   It  seems  as  if  their  shipyards  also  belonged  to 
the  past;  but  the  summer  visitor  finds  a  fresh 
attraeUon  in  watching  the  new  schooners  rise  from 
the  stocks,  and  the  gay  pageant  of  launching  them, 
every  mast  ablaze  with  bunting,  draws  crowds  to 
the  water-front.    And  as  a  business  venture,  with 
somewhat  of  the  tang  of  old-fashioned  romance, 
the  casual  stranger  is  now  and  then  tempted  to 
purcb  se  a  sixty-fourth   "piece"  of  a  splendid 


BOUND  COASTWISE  199 

Yankee  four-master  and  keep  in  touch  with  its 
roving  fortunes.  The  shipping  reports  of  the  daily 
newspaper  prove  more  fascinatirg  than  the  ticker 
tape,  and  the  fdings  of  a  successful  voyage  thrill 
one  with  a  sense  of  personal  gratification.  For  the 
sea  ha.  not  lost  its  magic  and  its  mysteiy,  and 
those  who  go  down  to  it  in  ships  must  still  battle 
agamst  elemental  odds -still  car,^  on  the  ntbt 


it: 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE 

^A^!'  ^'"«™«"  historians  like  McMaster.  Adams 
andRhodesgive  too  little  space  to  the  maritime  achieve- 

bv TpM       "''*'"°-.  7''"  ^"^  ^  ^^  P"«'J'y  filled 
by  the  foUowmg  special  works: 

Wnthrop  L  Marvin.  The  American  Merchant  Marine: 
lum^ry  and  Romancefrom  16S0  to  190S  (1902)  This 
18  the  most  nearly  complete  volume  of  its  kind  by  an 
author  who  knows  the  subject  and  handles  it  with 
accuracy. 

John  B.  Spears.  The  Story  of  the  American  Merchant 
Ifarn.  (1910  ,  The  Am^an  Slave  Trade  (mi)  ft 
Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers  (1908).  Mr.  ^ars 
has  sought  ongmal  sources  for  much  of  his  material  and 

^^.ttZT""  '"^''''  "^'-''-'^  ^'»  "^'^^  °f 

tX:^'  ^""p  r/^  ^*^^*  ""^  ^"^"  "f  Old  Salem: 
fmt^W,"  "^r^  ^™  "f^"'^"  Achieremeni 
11!  ;  TT"  °'  l^^  '"°'*  ^"""""^  'export  of  the 

AUantic  coast,  drawn  from  log-books  and  other  manu- 
scnpt  coUecbons  The  Book  of  Buried  Treasure:  Bel 
a  True  Br^ry  of  the  Gold.  Jewels,  and  Plate  of  Pirates, 
Gaaeons.etc.  (1911).  Several  chapters  have  to  do  S 
certam  picturesque  pirates  and  seanen  of  the  colonies. 

U899).   The  only  book  of  its  kind,  and  indispensable  to 
toi 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE 


tto«,^who  wish  to  learn  the  stoiy  of  Yankee  ship,  and 

U914)  This  recent  volume,  written  from  an  Engliah 
point  of  view,  illuminates  the  system  of  conscriotion 
which  caused  the  War  of  1812  conscription 

Nothing  can  take  the  place,  however.of  the  narratives 
ISTfamr  '^'"'"  -""  "^^  *"«  ""^  "--- 

19?i  ■   T?     ^    '^'"°"'  ''^"d^o'n^ly  illustrated. 

Captain  Richard  Cleveland.  Narrative  of  Voyage,  and 
Commeraal  Enterprise,  (1848).    This  is  one  of  le  f^ 

Xh"^T'r?'''^^°''''''"''-hoolofshipLtLt 
who  had  the  gift  of  writing  V'^'^Km 

Jht}      V'     T°    !""  °'  ^""^  "■*  '■""'^  documents 
penod  of  activity,  a  centuiy  ago 

(1910)     A  thnllmg.  spray-swept,  true  stoty.    F^.  and 

awaythebestaccountoftheclipper.byamanwrow« 
an  officer  of  one  in  his  youth 

Sin  *^^°™/f=*^  ""d  ■"e'norie'  of  a  famous  Bos- 
ton  shipK)wner.  It  is  valuable  for  iU  records  of  note- 
worthy passages. 

Captain  John  D.  Whidden.  Ocean  Life  in  the  Old 
Saa^ng  Shry  Days  (1908).     The  entertaining  remil 
cences  of  a  veteran  shipmaster 

Captain  A.  W.  Nelson,  Yankee  SvHinson:  Chapter, 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE 


808 

f'^alifeatSea  (1913).   Another  of  the  true  romance, 

::::itnrrSATr""^-"^----- 

J.  Urey  Jewell,  ^mony  Our  Sailor,  (1874)  A  nl« 
for  more  humane  treatment  of  American  Itmen  ^^ 
many  mstances  on  shocking  brutalitieTas  1":^^ 

E  K  kT Vf "  ""^  "  ""'*«<^  «'«'«"  Consul 
fi.  Keble  Chatterton,  Sai7%  Ships:  The  Story  of  th^r 
yiopnent^mo).    An  elaboratfhisto^  oMhe  a" 

notably  fair  t„  tC  T    V®^*"^®)-    An  English  work, 

authorLuve  ^""*"  "^«-  '^'^  ^^den^ 

Douglas  Owen.  Ocean  Trade  and  Shipping  (1914) 


«04  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE 

Inerea,^,  Became  Great,  Declined,  and  Decayed  (188«) 
A  pohtical  treatise  in  defen*  of  a  protective  policy. 

Wilham  .V  Bates,  American  Marine:  The  Shipping 
queet«,mn  Hi^ry  and  Politics  (1898);  American  NaZ 
gahon:  The  PolUxcal  History  of  lu  Rise  and  Ruin  (1908). 
These  works  are  statistical  and  highly  technical,  partly 
compiled  from  governmental  reports,  and  are  alw 
frankly  controversial. 

Henry  HM,  American  Navigation,  With  Some  Account 
f^l^^'""''f^^^'"^P"»P^y<indPre.eniDecUne 

Charles  SUiU,  History  of  American  Shipping:  lU 
rrestige.  Decline,  and  Prospect  (1883). 

.*  '\?'  {  ^*'l7'  ^^^  *"'*'^"  "f  ^"'P*-  2"**  N<"1f  and 
the  Merchant  Manne  (1884). 

Arthur  J  Maginnis.  The  Atlantic  Ferry:  Its  Ships. 
Men,  and  Working  (1900). 

A  vast  amount  of  information  is  to  be  found  in  the 
Congressional  Beport  of  the  Merchant  Marine  Commis- 
«on,  pubhshed  m  three  volumes  (1905). 


INDEX 


AMUm  (BritUh  privateer),  84- 


Aeom  (Britiih  brig),  it 
AdKMunOaUea  (.hip).  IS 
Afnc  trade  with.  M 
Amenca  (ihip),  Ita,  ISO 

loo'"""  ■'*■"««'''>''  Art  ll817), 

American  Navigation  Club.  183 
Amienj.  Treaty  of,  107 
And^rew  Jackmn   (clipper),    Idfl, 

Anito-American  (packet),  140 
J  '  „ 'S""  (pwJtet),  140 
a™  ^c*:™  fclipper).  1S«,  148 

Ant^a.  Thr,^  Bnlhm  aent  a> 

pnie  to,  19 
Antwerp,  trade  with,  108 
Arabia,  trade  with,  as,  62 

Arbuthnot,Adniiralof  theBrit 
uh  Navy,  43 

Arctie  (rteamer),  150 
At^  (sloop),  30-43 
Anaona  (iteamer),  142 
Ar'ides  of  ConfederaUon,  40 
Astrea  (ship),  36,  75 
AUanlic  (steamer),  150 

iS*""  °°^"  ''^"  '*'''"  '"'• 
Awres,  Reid  at  the,  145 

5^  B«y.  whalers  in,  «1 
|<«/i<!  (steamer),  150 
"^'^"'^jgPrivateering     from. 


Barbados,  trade  with,  S.  a 

Barnard.  Thomas,  7« 

BarrelW.   Lieulenant,   of  floiB. 

WKo.  lis  ^^ 

Balavia.  Onnd  Turk  at,  «W7i 

Cleveland  at,  64;  Fnnklin  at. 

«»,  American  fleets  at.  108 
Bellomonl.  Lord.  B„yal  Cover- 

nor„f.v,„York.N'ewHrZ. 

shire,  and  Ma««chusetts,li- 

B'ljamin  (ship).  60.  61-«» 
Bermuda,  trade  with.  3;  prf^ 

and  flom.nica  near.  1«7 

B'ln,  (East  Indiaman).  6«.  nj 
Bel^g  (schooner),  le 
Briay  (whaler),  01,  OS 

it°34,%T""''  '■■  »"^ 

Black  Ball  Lme,  137, 147 

B  ackbeard,  colonial  pirate,  14 

"'"""I  of  th.  Bay  liloop).s 
Blockade.  108,  119         "^ 

'^n'°*sli.r™!u^  privateer, 

in,  «3,  trade  with  Far  East,  81: 

Ma„acku.ett.   atted   out   at. 

88;  packet  hnes  from,  137 

Bounty  (ship),  86 

Bounty  systeu  for  fisheries  189 

W.  duel  with  EnterprU..  1« 

Boyle,  tapuin  Thomis.  of  the 

C/ioMnir.  119,  121 
Brazil     Quelch    sails    for,    n- 
I      whalers  at,  21 

Briggs.  Enoa,  master  builder  of 
I       the  ttgex,  104 
20o 


flOO 


INDEX 


Biwgfc    Thomu,    hdiM    build 

Briitol  (H.  I.),  pjrt  in  il.ve- 

timdfcT 
Britiak  Eut  India  Company,  M. 

81,  1J9 
Burke,  Edmund,  quoted,  il 

C^outta,  Derby  ihiMat.  iJ-ae; 
Mibee  at,  81;  Cleveland  at, 
M;  Feaoody'a  ihipi  at,  US 
California,  Cleveland  loes  to, 
W;  diicovery  of  gold  in,  104- 
IM;  trade  witi,  1T1-7J 
Cali/omia  dipper,  164;  »«  aUa 

Clipper! 
Canada,  131 

Canada  (Cunard  liner),  143.  168 
C«nton,  Cleveland  go««  to,  67; 
Empnu  of  China  to,  70;  Dean 
at,  80;  Peabody's  jhip  at,  144 
Camatum  (Britiih  war-brig),  12J 
Camefc  CapUin  Joouthan,  47-48 
Carolinaa,  slave-trade  with  the,  7 
Carolitu  (cutter),  84 
Cera  (brig).  74 
Cnace,  Jeremiah,  of  the  Maua- 

chiuttta  crew.  84 
Chadbum.   Humphrey,   of   the 

MataachuKtts  crew,  84 
Challenge  (clipper),  164,  171,  174 
Chanteyi,  46,  1S»,  142-43,  179. 

181,  184 
CharUt  (privateer).  11 
Charleaton  (S.  C),  Blackbeard 
at,  14;  privateering  from.  31, 
118, 1«7;  Geddej  taken  into,  44 
CAaueur  (privateer).  119-20.  Itl 
Chever.  CapUin  James,  of  the 

America^  130 
Child.  Sir  josiah.  quoted.  4 
China,  trade  wilj.  47,  79-84,  93 
»4,    147-48,  160-64,   177;  «e 
alto  Canton 
S^TCSfJ*'  (British  clipper),  103 
Civil  War,  effect  on  shipping,  177 
CUirk,     Captain    A.     H„     The 

Clipper  Ship  Era,  170-71 
Cleveland,  Captain  Richard.  62- 


87,  SS;  his  brother  nm  to 
Japan.  09 
Clippers,    141-43.    144  et  tea.; 

crews.  173-74 
Coastwise  shipping.  184  et  teq.; 
foreign  flags  prohibited.   104, 
190 
Cod.  Cape.  Pilgrims  land  on.  * 
Collins,  E.  K.,  140 
Collins  Line,  140 
Columbia  (ship),  94 
Columbia  River  discovered,  94 
Columhua  (packet),  race  with  the 

Sheridan,  140 
Cornel  (clipper),  170 
Commerce  (ship),  72 
Congress,  at  end  of  Revolution, 
M;    regulates    trade,    96-97; 
creates  navy,   100;  proclaims 
embargo,     lOO,     109;     Non- 
Intercourse  Act,  110;  tribute 
to  8shernicn,   187;  protection 
of  fisheries.  189 
Congreea  (privateer).  43.  44 
Conner,   Larry,   of   the   Uataa- 

ehueette  crew,  84 
Conslilulion  (frigate),  43, 123, 127 
Con  tinentalCongressissues  priva- 
teering commissions,  23 
Cook,  Captain,  113 
Creesy,  Captain  Josiah,  of  the 

Filling  Cloud,  166 
Creel  o/tt<.»'o!»(British  clipper), 
race  with  the  Sea  Serpent,  162 
Crooked  IsUnd,  Shattuck  taken 

to,  10 
Crowley,  James,  of  the  Maiuf 
chuaetle  crew,  84 

CrowninshieId,Benjamin,quoted 
49-60 

Crowninshield  family,  49,  129 
Cuba,  sugar  trade,  108 
CuUoden  (British  ship).  43 
Cunard.  Samuel.  149 
Cunard  Line.  149.  140 

Dana,  R,  H.,  Jr.,  Two  Yean  fia. 

fore  the  Maet,  cited,  164 
Daniel  Webeter  (packet).  149 


bu;..  the  i/„„„c/i„rti,.  S      '^ 
UMn.  Capuin  Sle»,rt.  of  th. 

i*""'"";  (privatMr),   duel  with 

Dominica.  U7-«  "'" 

Driano,  Cpuin  Arattw.  M;  of 

M:    with.  Bri,i.h   ,rpSl\i^ 

"■  buy,  Ewt  Indiaman.  87- 
|f:  ""••"■  '"  I'biladelphi., 
»».  on  the  Ptrmtrance,  HlJ-Ol  • 
yp^agn  and  Trmeh,  01;  yarn 

l«de.     9S-04;     «cou^"^ 
wanderingi,  04 
Delaoo,  Samuel.  93 

rJ^^'l^"-  t-ipUin,  „f  the 
Columbi,,.  no 

Derby,  Charlea,  60 

%,V.;*"'™  "•"'I'anl. 
M.M-M.a3,«7  78  ,„j 

Derby  E.n„  Jr..  jj.i,„ 

Derby,  Cuplam  John.  «*-4s 
D«rby.  Captain  Richard.  It.  103 

Detire  (ship),  7 

"tSeTSi.  '''""•"'  •''"'•■   ■" 

'^  wIm'"'^'"  ■>'  the  Decatur. 

Bm>™m    (British    .h,p),    duel 
with  flwo/ur.  l«7-88 

Dragon  (British  privateer)   41 

Dramatic  packet  line,  150 

Drivw,    Captain     Michael, 

Salem,  18-80 
Dublin  (British  friratc).  130 

,?";?"'■    CapUin    Philip, 

the  Great  BrUain.  158 

li!r.k  i"  A"'™«-  »■  4:  reUtions 
with  Japan,  67-68 

Duties.  <«  Tariff 


INDEX 


207 

W-Wl  81,   101,   131;  ,„  2^ 

^An^tl^rcn- ""'"""■• 
Elkin..   Mis,   Harriet.    ,«,u..ta 

purchase,  in  Far  Eut  tJ 
tmbargo  of  1704,  100:  of  laor 

100.  177  ""• 

Embargo  Act  (1808).  loo 
f°'f"V°/«"'.(ihip).7e 

England,  conditions  caused  bv 
privateeni,  «0;  N'.v^tioJ 
U«s,  47  133,  138.  llo-io 
•hipping  nvalry  with  America 
"-48.  131-33,  100-64,  178^ 
war  with   France  (1703)     oo' 

M-';'S;'",08'^"'"'"^">Wi°1.' 
"»  iw,  108;  mission  to,  101- 
Jay  Treaty   (1704).  loi';   j^" 

.'8°63)",'ri7"".!:i''!^*^"<» 


S06 


INDEX 


PUhun-lrKU    u    training    for 
•nmeo,    s,    18«;   pr,j3.il«l. 

1-  L  ','"".'  '^-  "•'.  ItW  HU- 
IM  ."""■  ">"«•''■•  fr«df, 
iS     '''"°»8«.      IBK     (not»); 

KletclKr,      Colonel      l).nj.n,in. 
J-C™;"'!^'*  Vork..„d 

"°7^,  ('■«PP«').    %   quoted, 

Fly^ipi  CUnid  (clipper),  lud,  in, 

^ml^^uh  (clipper),  171 

the  PntecloT.  lfl-«7 
France,  trade  with.  0,  M;  »«„ 
with    bni-land,    18.    09.    107- 
P""''*"    of.     10I-U3.     108- 
109.  liO-II;  pay,  inderanit,.. 

France.  Isle  ot,  lee  Mauritiui 
F1J1190M,  Cape.  Driver  reacbe., 

F'onkUn  (,h!p).  first  American 

ship  to  Japan.  B8-88 
Freo  trade,  ne  Tariff 
French  in  America,  4 
French  .Spoliationa.  ITT;  .m  „u 

rrance 
Fnlk.  duel  with  the  Wan,  187 
Fur  trade.  4.  SO.   M.   8«    93- 
84 


'^H'-  OemnS.  regular,  halted 

by  Derby,  it 
Gates.  General,  difflcully  in  ob- 

taming  food.  40 
Gcddes,  Captain  George,  of  the 

tongreaa,  4.'}-4J 

Oeneni;  Pickering  (ship).  33-39 
Oenmi/      (TmAiVo,,      (pri™,^ 

cniiaer).  43 
Ororj*  (ship),  144-4S 
Ghent.  Treaty  of.  130-31 
Girard.  Stephen.  103-07 
Girard  CoUece.  107 


I  GloucMt*   (.Mw.).   „„d..   am 

schooner  to  Grand  Bimlt.  !««. 

•rter    the    Rerolutioa.     187. 

Bshing  achooner.  l8g-«9 
Gold,  effeii  of  Clifomi.  dia- 

cowyonshippinif.  l84-« 

^'x'    '""''"^  Prlval-r). 

Gooii    Hop..    Cape   of.    Orami 

?«ri  to.  Mi  Cleveland  voyagS 
to.  Oil.  (4  v*p» 

Gordon.  Lieutenant,  of  the  SI 

Laimnct.  \t\ 
OoKrnorTompkim  (.hip).  !«, 

OmndTmk  (.bi„).  34-«.  JO-47 
uray.  Captain  Kobert.  discoven 

Culumliia  River.  93 

r&i  ^'"'""'  ^'™  °'«''l«nt, 

O'ra/  fln/o.Vi  (clipper).  lo« 
quoted,  lis  '^'^  '■     "* 

Great  War.  part  played  by 
schooners  during.  194-93 

rT«  ""*';'' (•We-whceler),  149 

*"  tS:V3«''- "-"-'  -'^ 

^"^^■ik^l"- ''"'  A^rioui  ship 
7l'-7«        •"nomic  system  in, 

^  Tttr*  to,  33 
Guion  line.  142 

Hamburg,  Cleveland  buy,  brig 
TcM         American  trade  with. 

nannak  (armed  brig),  48 
IS^fS:  C«pt«in  .fonathan.  83- 

39.  104 
llarpf  (ship).  180 
Harris.    .John,    of    the    Maua- 

muaetla  crew,  83 
Haswell.  William,  diaiy  quoted. 

70,  71  I-""** 

Havana.  C*awrar  and  St.  Law- 
rmce  off,  181 


Jl 


H-«4  C.pu.„,  „,  ,h.  ,^, 

ffjfc«i..  (,bi,,).  10(1  I 

Hill.    Juta.    CM*    ou    tb«    ("„«. 

HoUaDd,  107 


INDEX 


Hopew.'i  (ihip),  10 
Tw        ■         ■'"'^  ('"'"Wier). 

Howlund  and  AipiDwall.  New 
Ifork  .hiu^wner,,.  I.M.  |m 

Hu  en  Ww,rd.  iinprcwod  by 
Brniali,  113-14  -^ 

llurrietne  (cliupcrl,  171 

Hutchinion,  J.  H.,  The  P,„. 
Ooil»4/lo<i/  nndAikm,  quoted, 

Impreiunent  of  reunen.  KM. 
111-18,  131 

Itidtpenilmce  (p«ket),  138;  rec- 
ord from  New  York  to  Liver- 
pool, 141 

Indeptndmi  Chnmich  of  LoodoD 

3iH>ted,  <7 
ia.  Derby  iii  Si-lie;  m  al»> 
('■Icutta 
Indiana,    danger    to    fishermen 
'«""•  ^Ifi  Cleveland  trade" 

with,  6i,  on 

Injersoll.  Captoin  Jonathan,  of 

the  Grand  Turk,  54-S5 
Ironibiin.  131,  Iflj 

Jmclucn.     Peter,    cook    on    the 
Crret.  74-7« 

''*5-^lr  "  ^!.  ^"Si^od   and   Sir 

,/amMnn</J/an,(mer..hantinan). 

Jamei  Bai,u,  (clipper).  141,  143 
Japan.  American  ships  to.  67-70 
Jay.  John,  101 
Jay  Treaty  (1794).  101 
Jefferson,  Thomaj.  ou  retaliatory 

■hipping  policy.   98;   on  era 

bar,?n.  1041 


too 

*Ao»a,  John,  of  tbe  ilui». 

ekumH,  crw.  B4 
Jonei,  Fkul,  and  tht  Rmatr  «■ 

K*««'!^'''»-.wh.l,raatl»S 
K«ld.  Captain  William.  li-M 
«!«»  Owrgt  (brig),  40 

I  Und.  Captain  John,  of  tte 
I      nainiotii.  IM 

Uniiraa  (Uritinh  cutler).  1*0 

Upham.  Charlei.  7!i 

I«ghorn.  VVillinm,  7« 

ulia  Bj/rd  (brig),  or 

l«lten  of  marque,  Continent^ 
congreaa  lasuot,  k3 

I^xingtoii,  Dattle  of.  newi  lakea 

ty«  //or»  (ihip),  an 

c»aii«  Shlfping,  169 
LMbpn,  U»Je  with,  108 
Utely  (privateer).  40 
imirfoa  Sfictator,  The,  on  priv*. 
rw 'J.i   .! Bevolution.  »4-«5 
ion<  o/M. /A,  (Brilith  elippoOL 
race  witli  the  if nury.  IM*^' 
Low.  Ned.  pirate,  10-11 
I*iw.  Eufui,  chief  mate  of  tbe 

rertneranee,  89 
Luzon,  trade  with,  SB 
Lydta  (bark),  70,  71 


bargo.  10» 
John  itatUman   (British  ship) 
139 


McC«tne5%  Urd.  Governor  oa 
Cape  of  Good  Hope.  04 

MeClure  Commodore  John,  of 
the  Bnlisb  Navy.  84 

k^?'  ^P"*'''-  Americma  .hip- 
builder,  14«,  laa,  107.  Its 

McKay.  Captain  Lauchlan.  of 
the  fiorerti^  of  the  3,0,,  167 

McKim.  Isaac.  Baltimore  mei- 
cbant.  1S4 

Madagascar,  piratea  at.  It: 
trade  with,  «8  ^ 


210 


INDEX 


Madeira,  trade  with,  44,  so 
Mail  contract.  Atlantic.  140 
Maine,  3 
Malavdia,  trade  with,  J8 

108      ''"''  •*™"'°"'  fi=«'»  «'■ 
Marblehcad.  Quelch  at.  18;  aa  a 

fishing  port,  100,  )80j  after  the 

Bevolution,  187 
ifargarct  (ship),  voyage  to  Japan, 

69 


Marianne  Islands,  70 
Martinique,  trade  with,  99:  Enit- 

lish  at,  100 
Marv.!i.   W.   L.,    The  American 

Merchant   Marine,   cited,    186 

(note) 
Sfary  (schooner),  19 
Mary  (sloop)  captures  Pounds. 

Mas  a  Fuera,  9S-84 

Massachusetts.  Phips  as  royal 
governor  of.  14. 17;  contributes 
frotedor  to  navy.  26;  tee  also 
Boston,  Gloucester.  Marble- 
head.  Nantucket,  Salem 

Mojmchmetta  (merchantman), 
81-83;  crew  of,  83-84 

Mather,  Cotton,  on  Sir  William 
Phips,  14-14 

Matilda  Etnermn  (schooner),  198 

Mauritius,  Derby  ships  at,  45 
48;  Sdsbee  at,  81;  Cleveland 
at,  62,  66;  Delano  at,  87 

Maury  (clipper),  race  with  the 
lord  oj  the  Isles,  162 

Mayflower  (sloop),  7 

Maynard,  Lieutenant,  captures 
Blackbeard,  II 

Memnon  (clipper),  167 

Merchant    marine,    growth    of 

88-99,  111 
Messenger  (East  Indiaman),  74, 

Mexico,  107;  Cleveland  goes  to. 

Middle  Passage,  7 
Moniesquieu  (ship),  108 
Moniexuma  (iiacket),  141 


Morgan,  CapUin   Ebineier,  of 

the  Pioneer,  182 
Morning   Chronicle   of   London. 

quoted.  120 
Mount  Vernon  (ship),  77 
Murphy,  William,  of  the  Jfotso- 

chusetts  crew,  84 
Muscat,  Commerce  wrecked  near. 

Mutinies,  84-86,  114,  116,  174 


Nagasaki,  Dutch  in,  68;  Ameri- 
can ships  at,  69 

Nantucket,  whalers  of,  21,  44- 
46,  180,  182 

Napoleon,  proclaims  paper  block- 
ade of  British  Isles,  108;  re- 
prisal  for  Non-Intercourse  Act, 

Natchet  (packet).  14' 
Nattd  Science  cited,  Idl 
Navigation,  dangers  of,  9,   72; 

see  also  Pirates,  Privateers 
Navigation  Acts,  47,   133,  188 

149-60,  190 
Navy,    American,    during    the 

Revolution,  25-26;  Talbot  as 

captain  of,  43;  n  War  of  1812. 

New  Bedford  as  a  whaling  port. 
180,  181.  182 

New  England,  marine  ventures 
peculiar  to.  3-4;  fleet.  20  et 
seq.,  I05;at  end  of  Revolution, 
40;  effect  of  embargo  on,  109; 
ports  of,  164 

New  Guinea.  McClure  explores, 
84 

New  noUand,  McClure  explores, 

New  London  (Conn.),  181,  182; 
Ktng  George  brought  as  priio 
to.  40-41 

New  Orleans,  privateers  from, 
118 

Newport  (R.  I.),  part  in  slave- 
trade,  7 

New  Providence,  Mary  sent  as 
pnze  to,  19 


«fK.v„,„u.„,S:f-^»d 
(nSa)^t''°^'  '"■ "«  port 

VlS;„l     '  ^^  '""a  from,  137 
Ni^oUa^     Nicholas     „f  '    £ 

"flUtntal,  (dipper).  168 

Non-Intercourse  Act.  110 
Wore  Mutiny  (1707).  114.  1,0 

SS^SS- privateer,  Ln.:ni° 
North.    Lord,    propose,     non 

ATorrtmlf,*^  (clipper).  171 


INDEX 


211 


te^'™"?*^P«'«').  149 
.YJ^"^""™  (PKket),  138 

Old  Roger. 'Quelch'a  flag,  u 
Ortronaiix.  Captain  J.,  If  {),. 

0*gonCeveIandi„.8e      ^ 
Urunlat  (dipper).  160-91.  162 

^oin>!c  (steamer),  IJO 
™™'   '>''P'.    136-«s;    master. 
«nd  crews.  143-47         ""»«"■ 

fe  -^^P,**'"   Theodore,    of 
tbe  Onmlal,  161 
™nier  fleet.  1»4 

p^'(Pritishship),85.8d 
pC^j  ^^/^z  (packet).  1 H 

chant.  144.  14S 

IfS,^?!""''  ^°"'"'  of  the 

^M^ste'  P">'«ring  from. 
?i;.?'';P''"  Craid  in.  lOiS- 
IW,  padiet  lines  from.  137 


Phips,  Sir  William,  14-17 
ri'inn  (schooner).  93 
ftlgnms.  The,  t 
Pioneer  (whaler),  182 
Prnte,,   10  rf  „,,.  48 

rhvateers  ^ 

ntcairn  Island.  86 

for  the  M<u,ackmea,.  84 
/a«.^.™«  (British  ship  „,u.. 

S^'f-Rjodela.trade.ss 
Plymouth,  harbor  of.  8 
™W  (schooner),  198 
Pounds,  Thomas,  pirate,  u 

rresuient  (frigate).  183 
of  iam'en'"  "'"''"''---"' 

"  »rd„^™ts^' s-"^^^ 

Kl-24  Endymion, 

'^MhTp'^",™':  '"ken  bv.  10, 

^th  C^  V-.T^*-  '""W« 
i^-09^'"f,'a-',^,  %'■'-"?• 

??in7^?i-^---ro? 

Protection,  aee  Tarifl' 
Protector  (ship),  «e 


Quelch  John,  pirate.  11-14 
CafTO  (schooner).  S3 
lumcy    (Mass.).     " 
launched  at,  81 

«a«yn-  (privateer).  46 
«""»«  (packet).  172,  173 
Heciprocity.  181 


212 


INDEX 


§«lJ(uket  (dippa).  ni 
Bed  Star  Line,  1S7 
H«id,  Captain  Samuel,  Iti-ie 
««enf«  (British  privateer),  19 
li-voluUon.  privateering  in,  18 
ft  ««?.,  81  et  ttq.,  fil,  53-54; 
loM  of  ships  in,  45;  seamen  in, 
40 
Hhode  Ishind    conducts    shive- 

trade,  7-8 
BoUnson,  Captain  Andrew,  of 

Olouoester,  186 
ft*l  (British  frigate).  Us 
Bousiilon,  Count  de,  67 
Himueau  (ship),  loa 
Rij^.  Captain  of  the  Slieridun. 

Bust,  Daniel,  furnishes  sails  for 
EiKX,  105 

Sable,  Cape,  tow  captur-s  fisher- 
men off,  lfr-11 
Sag  Harbor,  181 
St.  Christopher's,  trade  with,  6 
SUUmence  (British  schooner), 

Salem,  as  a  port,  «,  51-78;  entry 
m  records  of  First  Church  of, 
9-10;  privateers  from,  43,  31- 

with  tar  East,  46,  81,  144-45; 

Eusz  launched  at,  103-05 
Sampson  and  Tappan,   Boston 

ship-owners,  163 
Samuels,  Captain  Samuel,  of  the 

Dnadttought,  141,  143 


San  Diego,  67 

Sandy  Hook,  Talbot  off,  43 

Oun  Francisco,  ships  to  (1849), 

164-65 
Santa    Maria.    isUnd    of.    Per- 

imerance  and  Trgal  near,  89- 

Sarak  (whaler),  182 

Saunders.    Daniel.    74;    tells  of 

tragedy  of  the  Co'nmmi!,7i  73 
Sacage   (British  sloop  of    war), 

44 
Savannah,  privateere  from,  118 


Schooners,  invention  of,  188- 
fish.ng.  180  188;  coastwise" 
shipping,  191;  types  of,  191- 
193;  crews,  198;  masters.  193- 
194;  during  Great  War,  194- 
183;  passing  of  the,  195-98 

ttmrpion  (privateer),  38 

,h^%'"':'  M'Pr"'^'  "•«  with 

tbe  Crest  of  the  Irave.lei 
!>M    IVUck    (clipper),    156,    157 

171;    race    with    Rapnt    and 

Tyahooii.  172-73 
Sealing,  93-94 
Search,  flight  of,  101,  112 

|jJ';^'"=lfe'.  The,  whalers  at,  183 
ShaJer,  Nathaniel,  66-87 

.  ""j'l    9?"^'"   J"''",    rap- 
tured by  Vain,  10 

Shaw,  Samuel,  80,  81,  83 

Sheffield,  Lord,  on  liarbary 
pirates,  48  ' 

Sheridan  (packet),  race  with 
Columbm,  140 

Shipbuilding,  by  New  England 
settlers.  2^.  5-6;  Great  Brit- 
am  obtains  ships  in  America. 
47;  Derby  s  shipyards.  •W-.H- 
tmx  built  at  Salem,  103-05- 

Ifl  i'"'  X?"''';  "":  '"  Phila- 
delphia, 108;  building  of  clio- 
pers,  163-66;  buifding  ot 
schooners,  102;  recent  activity. 


Silsbee,  Captain  N'athaniel.  80- 

rcrT"™'   of  impressment 
of  Hulen,  113-14 
Silsbee,  William,  61 
Silsbee,  Zachariah,  61 

"''l6ft'l7o''°'  '"""'''   '''''••^'^■ 
StriM  (side-wheeler),  149 
Slavery,  in  West  Indies,  47;  in 

the  South,  50 
Slavi-trade,    7-8;    Derby    con- 
demns, 55;  on  the  Trj/al,  89- 

Songs,  aee  Cnanteys 
South,  The,  at  end  of  Revolu- 
tion, 50 


lOi  I""""*    pnvateer). 

SpeedzixU  (ketch).  6 
Sl»«  Island..  McCIure«pl„,e.. 

^'Sl'^IS!*'  •''"«'  "'  the  J/mm- 
aiUKttt  crew.  84  ^"»m- 

Sterling.  Captain  of  tlia  Sa«^e, 
"K;,.^^'"-'-'    -"'°-    of 

Subsidies.  149.  150 

Summ  (scliooner).  33 

S-^^  (Hoyal  Expre™  Packet). 

>  •^eabodyssfiipaat.  145 
'  wrstitiona.  88 

■     Ulow  Tail  Line.  137 
■i!^Pt  (dipper).  171 
oyrm  (schooner).  120 


INDEX 


213 

Tram.^noch..,.ab,i.fc«p^^ 
^T'  .f"°"^.  of  the  Ma^K. 

'"'yo/ (Spanish  ship).  89 
^feai?,:r-tnr.in 

'fcinfeV2r--th 

f^ntfcrf  Stafe,  (,hjpj_  jgy 

^^i^-'^Spl^ 

Vmey«d  Sound.  Pounds',  fight 

^St'-pl'i"'  <l«tm«tion  of 
nJgrim   Fathers,   t-   toh«™ 

raising  in  4:  trSew^th'ST^ 
slave-trade  with,  7  ' 

I  oUaire  (ship).  108 


Talbot.    Captain   Silaa,   „f '  n, 

«'«ta^„  43;  captain  in  the 
AraencanNavi.43 

Tariff.  40,  96-97.  132.  138.  100 
Tasmania,  whalers  at.  183 

rjwmopjito  (clipper),  180-70 
Thompson,    Sir    James,    com- 
T'»»°<'"0fthei)„W,„,-,3~™ 

Three  Brother  (schooner).  19 
^tmw.  London,  quoted.  1.SJ.  160 


^^fe  5**"*"  W.  T..  of  New 

Bedford.  181  '" 

W.r„fi8i«.,„.,8_„^^^_ 

Washingtxin.  George,  recom 
mends  embargo.  looT^ 
ommends  mission  to  EnghS; 

W^Ungton  Irrin,  (p.dcet). 
^"f?-  duel  with  FrolK,  127 

Webster.  Daniel  quoted.  18 
W«t,  Captain  Nathaniel,  75 
West  Indies,  trade  with,  7,  19 

i^'*™-*»:  effect  of  Navva. 
»>on    Acts    on,    47;     BriSih 
pnvateers    in,    80;    EnguSd 
regulates  trade  of,  isi-sl 
Whalers,  21-22.  43-40.  179-8S 


214 


INDEX 


Wheatland,  Captain  Ricliard.  bc- 

tJount  of  trouble  TiHth  French 

IM-OS 
WhiU  SquaU  (dipper),  171 
Wilham   HI,  King  of  Englwid, 

•ends  Lord  Bellomont  to  New 

York,  U 
WiUiam  Hamition  (whaler),  188 
Williams,  Benjamin,  72 
Williams,  Robert,  73 
Wiljiams,  William,  of  the  Mium- 
chiuftUcmw,  83 


Wihnington,  privateers  rrom.  118 

Winthrop,    John,    Governor   of 

Maasachiuette    Bay    ColoiQr 

Witch  ofOu  Wm  (dipper),  170 
Younn  Watp  (privateer),  1«1 


Zanzibar,  trade  with,  t 
at.  188 


3:wha]«n 


n  from,  118 
overnor  of 
y    Coloily 

iper),  ITO 


r).  m 


«:wlu]en 


